


The Law Offices of Fey and Wright

by orphan_account



Category: Law & Order, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Murder Mystery, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-09-18 14:33:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 56,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9389375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Thanks to a save by Phoenix Wright, Mia Fey is left alive during Turnabout Sisters. Now they work together to save the innocent and bring justice to the dead. Rated M for violence, language, light sexuality, and references to very dark subject matter. Very dark AU.





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Seeing as this is a fanfiction, I obviously have no ownership of Phoenix Wright, or any characters related to that franchise. They are owned entirely by CAPCOM.

Chapter 1

The things you don't ever expect to still exist inside you, the demons of experience…but then again, life can sometimes bring you some…unexpected things in your life, even though you thought you knew they were gone. That's what didn't run through the mind of Mia Fey as she walked into the offices of Fey and Co., a small criminal defense law firm that had barely started under her name. Slowly caressing her shiny new Attorney's badge, she sighed. Many things ran through her head, yet many important things were not currently presently coursing through her brilliant brain. What did run through her mind, though, was the fact she had a phone call to make today. She took her seat to her impeccable desk, put her steaming coffee down, and proceeded to pick up the phone, tapping in some numbers.

Three rings later, her phone call was answered, "Hello? This is Maya."

Mia Fey smiled, hearing the sweet voice of her lovely sister. "Hey Maya, it's me."

That put a smile on the caller's voice "Mia! What's up? You haven't called in a while."

"Sorry, I've been so busy. The Attorney job, remember? How have you been, dear sister?"

"Well, LONELY, and it's YOUR entire fault!" yelled Maya. Mia let out a light chuckle, though Maya was oblivious to the sound. Mia knew her sister was joking. "Nah, I'm just teasing, I've been great! I'm finally getting used to having my own place."

Mia couldn't be happier. "That's good to hear." Having remembered she needed her sister to help her to do something, her funny demeanor later got serious "Actually, I'm calling because I have a favor of you to ask."

Maya quickly confirmed. "I know, I know. You want me to hold evidence for you."

"Sharp as always. There's been quite a lot of buzz about the upcoming trial and I don't feel safe keeping the evidence here."

"I gotcha, so what is it this time?"

"It's...a clock."

"A clock?!" Maya had questioning in her voice now.

"Yeah it's made to look like that statue The Thinker. It tells you the time, which actually tells you, as in 'it is 3:00 right now'. I always though you liked toys."

"Hey! I'm not a little girl anymore, sis!" Maya yelled, suddenly on the attack. Mia really chuckled this time.

"Now, now, you know I'm only teasing. But in all seriousness, I should probably tell you, the clock isn't talking right now."

"Huh? It's not working? That's lame."

"Sorry but I had to take out the clockwork to put papers inside it."

"Papers? So that's where the evidence is then?"

Mia thought about it for a second "Hmm, well...there's a possibility that it might turn out that way, yes."

"Can you come by the office tonight, say 9:00 to pick it up?" Mia continued "I'm going to be in a pre-trial meeting until then."

"Okay, sis, but I expect dinner, and I think you know what I want right?"

"Burgers, Maya?" Mia didn't wait for an answer "Okay we'll hit the usual joint tonight."

"Alright then, it's a deal, see you soon, sis."

"I will be waiting, Maya." Mia finally hung up the phone.

Conversation recorded at September 5th 9:27 A.M.

That was Maya Fey for her, even with such a huge title that she was training for, she still managed to retain her teenage personality, which was quite a feat considering her role. That's what ran through Mia's mind as she drank her coffee that was beginning to cool down. But as she began to take her first sips of that coffee, her mind drifted to something other than her sister, such a strong thought that she almost felt being transported to another place.

Mia was still in her office, though it didn't look like her office anymore, everything was somewhat a mess, office chair knocked down from her desk, a glass lamp that was knocked down leaving glass shards on the floor, her palm tree on the floor, and The Thinker on the floor as well. But to Mia Fey's greatest horror, she saw a dead body on the floor next to the statue, her own dead body. That was when she transported back to reality, that was her still clean office.

She was still drinking her coffee, but seeing such a gruesome vision earlier made her rethink that as she put the cup down and let out a huge cough, as if she couldn't breathe. She saw what looked like her own death earlier, but already she had a good idea who would cause it. Deciding that she really didn't feel safe, she packed up her suitcase, and proceeded to make a trip to the District Court via a cab. Upon reaching the District Court, she took out her phone and made a second phone call, three rings later, her caller picked up his phone.

"Hey Chief, I thought I had the day off today, is something up?" it was her protégé Phoenix Wright

"No you still have the day off, Phoenix, but reason why I'm calling is because I want to invite you to dinner tonight and introduce you to somebody."

"Sure Chief, I'll join you, what time do you want me to be at the office?"

"I want you to be there at 8:49 sharp, Phoenix, think you can do that?"

"I can work with a clock, Chief, but my question is why 8:49?"

"My guest will take a while to get to the office, that and I know you got some traffic to beat so I wouldn't want you to be late." Mia had to lie. Who would believe her if she said she was about to be murdered tonight?!

"Well that does make sense, alright Chief, I'll be there at 8:49 sharp and I'll go ahead let you go, you're probably going to be busy." Phoenix hung up his phone and it recorded their conversation.

Mia smiled as she hung up her phone, for her to make a schedule would surely make her student Phoenix Wright have a headache. But then again, there was a deeper reason why she agreed to take him in as part of her office. Sure, her rookie attorney had only one victory under his belt in the courtroom, but Mia felt that in time her student would become a legend in the courtroom. As she walked to her pre-trial meeting, one thought ran through her mind, even with precautions that she took earlier before leaving the office, she could probably still die. But with the power of family and friendship, she knew all things were possible. Hopefully.

September 5th 8:49 P.M. Street to Fey and Co. Law Offices.

Funny how traffic was heavy this time of night, especially for a Labor Day weekend, Phoenix mused as he walked the rest of the way to his bosses law office, pace swift because he had only five minutes to get there and still three blocks to go. His mind still drifted to his first victorious case last month. No matter how many cases he would win or lose in the future, his first case would always be his most important one. It was the very first payback to a childhood friend, Larry Butz, the man he defended in his first case, who earlier defended Wright back in second grade.

He was literally in walking distance to Fey and Co, when in the glim light of the street lamp he noticed a silhouette figure walking the opposite direction into the office. Wonder if the Chief was expecting a third person today?.. he thought to himself ..or perhaps the guest came early today. I wonder...

He kept his pace towards Fey and Co. Law Offices, feeling relaxed as he walked into the entrance. The relaxed feeling evaporated as he heard his boss talking to the stranger, and immediately realized that this guest wasn't friendly as he heard his mentor's angry tone of voice.

"You're not the person I was expecting," he heard Mia say.

"If I remember correctly, Miss Fey, your guest is not due for another three minutes." The mysterious person had a flamboyant tone in his voice, almost mocking.

Flamboyant, but this is seriously not a nice guy, Phoenix thought to himself as he kept his distance to the door.

Then things really got serious. "Now, Miss Fey, I'll take what's mine...the papers."

Papers? What papers is he talking about?

"I'm sorry, but I can't give you what I don't have." Mia replied.

The stranger let out a sarcastic laugh. "Miss Fey, you are a poor liar. Why…I see it right over there."

Okay, he knows something about the Chief that I don't.

"That must be "The Thinker" that swallowed those papers."

The Thinker? What is she doing hiding something in that clock, of all things?!

"How could you possibly know?"

Now the man's tone really got sinister. "Hoh, Hoh, you are not aware of my background? Gathering information is my business, you see."

"I...I should've been more careful." Mia replied

No kidding, Chief, you should've been smarter than this.

"My dear, Miss Fey, I am very sorry. But I am afraid I must ask you for one more thing. Your eternal silence. Farewell, Miss Fey."

That was when Phoenix opened the door, "You will do no such thing! You better get the hell away from her right now!" His eyes seemed to glow with pure rage and protectiveness. He shielded Mia behind him as he faced his enemy.

"Oh, well what do you know, another person for me to kill," the man said as he held The Thinker in his hands.

"I said, let...her...go." Phoenix replied with venom.

"A nobody like you giving orders to a man like me? Oh, I am gonna have so much fun killing you after I kill your girlfriend." The mystery man said, as if he was predicting a baseball game.

Neither Phoenix nor Mia cared about his girlfriend comment, their mind was on the heavy weapon that was in the man's hand. Phoenix knew that the clock could kill in one blow if you made the right hit. He knew he had to make a save and fast or someone was gonna die tonight "Mia...run now, get out of here."

Before she did though, Mia shot forward out of Wright's protective grip and made a lucky kick to the man's crotch, causing him to drop the statue as he grasped himself in pain. It gave Mia a window to get her ass out of there. She ran out, hoping her protege would at least make it out alive. Phoenix made a tackle as soon as Mia made the kick, knocking the man fully to the ground. He didn't stand much of a chance though as the man picked Phoenix up like he was paper and threw punches on him like he was a punching bag.

Blood was coming from his mouth. "How could such a flamboyant man like you deliver an ass-kicking on me?"

"I may be flamboyant, boy, but I am also dangerous and powerful. Your girlfriend may be running away but I'm gonna find her and kill her as soon as I take this statue and burn the papers inside it," The man picked up The Thinker and treated it like a baseball bat "Instead of killing you, I think it'll be more fun to leave her a calling card."

With that, he made what would've been 50 strikes to chest and back area, each powerful hit more painful than the last. Phoenix kept screaming with each hit until he couldn't scream anymore. There is no way I'm gonna be able walk tomorrow, he thought to himself.

"Never forget the name Redd White, boy, I have more power than you could possibly imagine and you will never bring me down." Redd made the 50th hit to Phoenix's back, causing him to spit globules of sticky blood, the hit knocking him out. Before taking the statue and making his exit out of Fey and Co Law Offices, Redd smiled.

September 5th 9:07 P.M. Fey and Co. Law Offices

Phoenix had heard the siren wails from the distance, but he was so much in pain right now he could barely feel himself move.

Who called 911 on me?

He then felt a cold wash cloth on his face, gently moving on him like a soft caress. He still had strength to open his eyes, realizing he must've fainted earlier. His vision un-blurred to see a girl, dressed in traditional Japanese clothing, hair tied up in a partial bun. Her face almost looked similar to his boss albeit younger looking, but there was still something about her.

She's almost looks more beautiful than the Chief.

He made a move to get up but the girl stopped her "No stay down, you're hurt pretty badly." Her tone was sad but soft and soothing.

"How long was I out? What time is it?" Phoenix asked in a painful tone.

"It's 7 minutes after 9, don't talk either, sir, apparently your lungs are hurt as well. You're coughing up blood." Maya replied as she continued to rub the still wet wash cloth on his face.

For a few seconds, Phoenix took in how angelic her face looked, as she continued to wipe the blood away from his face.

Must be Mia's sister. I guess that was the 'guest'.

Suddenly, medics ran inside Fey and Co. Law Offices. Maya took that as her cue to get away from him and let them do their work. Thank God she still had her cell phone when she proceeded to call 911 after she found him, still alive. Speaking of cell phone, her phone vibrated which indicated she got a text from somebody, she picked up the phone to read the message from her sister Mia Fey.

Hey sis, it's me Mia, I know you're probably at my office like I told you, right?

Yes, sis, I had to call 911 when I found a man lying on your office floor.

Well not exactly the way I wanted to introduce you two, but that's Phoenix Wright you just found, he just saved my life.

He's still alive sis, paramedics just picked him up to take him to the hospital. I was planning on going with him.

Go with him, you'll be safer that way, I can't tell you where I'm at right now. But I'm letting you know that I'm okay and taking care of something right now.

Well one thing before you go, The Thinker you arranged for me to pick up, it's gone! I can't find it.

Don't worry about it now, just go with him, I'll worry about the evidence.

There was nothing Maya could do now but follow her sister's orders and proceeded to join the paramedics on Phoenix's trip to the hospital. Right now, her attention focused on who she now knew was Phoenix Wright, who fell back to sleep,

He looks like a sleeping child…

Maya thought not even caring about the blush on her cheeks. Police would later question her that night about how she found Phoenix, but she would not be in any wrong doing in the cops view.

September 5th, Bluecorp Offices 9:30 P.M.

Redd White had a victorious smile on his face as he walked to his office of Bluecorp. April May, his secretary, had accompanied him in slight confusion. She should've been in the Gatewater Hotel still, making a 911 call and staying there like Redd White had planned. Those plans obviously changed when Redd White went to their hotel room and back to what was basically his home, Bluecorp.

"That porcupine head, may have stopped me from killing her, but I was successful nevertheless in getting what I needed. I'll take what I came after and nothing will stop me," Redd White was mostly talking to himself instead of April "Be a dear and set up some glasses of wine for us, Miss May, we shall celebrate."

April proceeded to go where the wine cabinet was, grabbed two flutes and a half-empty bottle of 1950's French Wine. Right then and there, she heard her boss scream out "GOD DAMN IT!" No glasses were harmed though.

April turned around and saw Redd so angry, as she never seen him before. Come to think of it, she'd never saw him angry, period. The statue was disassembled from the base down, and he took a look at what was supposed to be papers that would've brought him down, but instead found just two papers. Both of them had a message.

The first one read:

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. Sun Tzu- The Art of War

Second paper was a simple letter in Mia Fey's impeccable handwriting:

Thought you expected the evidence in The Thinker, didn't you? You thought I would just hide the evidence and have you kill me after you took it. You may have outed my mother as a fraud when I was a little girl, but you forget that I am a member of the Fey family and I, like my mother have real genuine powers that makes me a Medium. If you want to see your precious evidence, you can find it at the same law firm I worked at before I found out you also blackmailed him. It's time for your end, and I will bring you down no matter what.

xoxo,

Mia Fey

"Slut..." Redd seethed as he finished the letter "THAT BIG BREASTED, SLUT!"

April was flinching a little when she looked at Redd White. He was angry all right, but on his face showed a smile. A smile that resembled an evil clown.

"She wants to play? Oh I'll make her REALLY play. Come Miss May, we have another visit to make a Gatewater, this time in a different room."

April didn't say anything, instead, followed her boss, wondering what he had in mind now.


	2. Chapter 2

Standard Disclaimers Apply

Chapter 2

September 6, 7:30 A.M. District Hospital

Maya didn't leave for home the night before, instead chose to keep a vigil over the man who saved her sister's life. Phoenix himself was resting on the hospital bed, still having the appearance of a sleeping child after a long day at school. The damage done to his body was thankfully not permanent so in time he would fully heal but the hospital doctors also told Maya to relay the message of him taking it easy when he woke up. She finished her explanations to the police of how she found Phoenix laying down after his injuries at 7 minutes after 9 P.M. last night. The police, in return, cleared her of wrongdoing after her alibi got checked out by the doctors who checked out Wright's injuries.

Phoenix himself had slowly opened his eyes and began to breath in a non-painful manner this time, his eyes drifted around what turned out to be his hospital room, until his eyes focused on the same woman he saw the night before. Same traditional clothing, hair tied into a bun, and the same face he thought was better than his own boss; with Mia Fey that's actually saying a lot.

"Never thought, I'd see you again," Phoenix spoke first in a sleepy tone.

"I was ordered by my sister to stay with you." Maya replied in a soft tone.

That got Nick's attention, "Sister, you mean Mia?"

"Yes sir, forgive me for not introducing myself, I'm her sister Maya Fey," she offered her hand to his in an impromptu handshake.

"No it's okay, you gotta admit it wasn't a good night for introductions," he gently returned her handshake "I'm Phoenix Wright, you can call me Nick if you want."

Maya smiled "Well Nick, it is nice to meet you, and I must also thank you for saving my sister."

"Oh, no problem, I was just helping a friend," Nick returned a brief smile. "How long was I out? I'd like to know what the doctors said about my injuries." He became serious. He wanted to know how long he had been out, as he had no idea in the bright white room of his hospital room.

Maya relayed the message the doctors told her, how the incident left him with a few bruised ribs, that were at least treatable and that none of the injuries were permanent. He could walk anytime, but obviously had to take it easy, and would have to be on a prescription of pain killers. Phoenix grimaced at the thought of his injuries and how long it would take them to heal.

"Honestly, I thought I was gonna die tonight," Phoenix had replied when both heard the door open.

"But you're not dead, Phoenix, be grateful for that," came the voice of Mia Fey as she walked in the room.

Maya couldn't help but run to her older sister and cry out of happiness, Mia didn't blame her as she returned the hug, "Sorry I couldn't join you for burgers last night, Maya."

"I'm just happy that I hadn't lost you last night, sis" Maya tearfully replied absently making the hug tighter.

Phoenix cut in "For such a huge age different, you sisters are awfully close aren't you?"

It was then Mia had her attention on her rookie attorney, who had adjusted his bed to a chair position,

"I must also apologize to you, Phoenix, for having you be dragged into this."

"Oh you don't have to apologize, if anything I should thank you for calling me yesterday morning," Phoenix said as Mia joined him on his bed, "If I'd have been any later to the office, you probably would've been dead."

"But I'm not, that's all that matters right now," Mia had a brown grocery bag that contained breakfast and 3 large bottles of milk "Now before we go into any further discussion, I imagine both of you are hungry like I am so I brought us all breakfast."

Both Phoenix and Maya nodded earnestly as they began to feast on what turned out to be whole grain muffins and bagels. "So Chief," Phoenix began as he decorated his bagel "Any reason why your sister is in traditional clothing?"

"First off, Nick, you can call me Mia when we're outside the office," Mia corrected as she unwrapped her muffin and took a bite, swallowing the delicious morsel before resuming speech. "and second I'd thought you'd never ask..."

Maya cut her off, "Actually sis, let me explain it to him if that's alright with you."

Mia could only nod gently as Maya began her story, "This outfit, is what all acolytes wear, it's normally the uniform of the Fey family."

"Acolytes? Like people training for a religion?"

"Not like that really, we really don't do anything strange either," Maya proceeded to take a few bites out of her delicious jam bagel before continuing, "I'm training to be a spirit medium.

Phoenix looked at Mia in disbelief, "A spirit medium?"

"Yes Phoenix, she's been training to be one ever since I studied to become an attorney," Mia replied while taking note of his thoughts "It's okay if you still think it's strange, but take note of this, it's because of my bloodline that my life was saved last night."

Now that definitely got a reaction from Maya, "Wait a minute, I thought you promised to never use your abilities as a Medium after you made your decision to become an attorney."

"I know that, Maya, but I swear to you that power came to me out of nowhere," Mia finished her muffin then continued, "Not long after I finished talking to you on the phone, did I not only have a vision, but I also was taken to an alternate future, a future that would've been my death."

She explained the details of what she saw in her vision and what had led her to make the decision to call Phoenix Wright after that vision. Maya couldn't help but be amazed at what her older sister just told her "That's extreme, even for a member of the Fey Family."

"So you ladies aren't kidding around, when you say you're Spirit Mediums?" Phoenix asked he too was engrossed in her story.

"Yes, Nick, but still Maya is right, I shouldn't have had those visions because I was not actively using my E.S.P at the time." Mia replied though her gaze still kept on Maya.

Maya was still in a moment of disbelief, it was a known fact in the Fey Family that they couldn't tell the future, but yet here she was listening to her sister telling this very gruesome story of her sitting down on the wall, death caused by The Thinker. But still there was no way Mia could be lying, her office was in a wreck when she walked into Phoenix lying on the floor. If nothing else she had to be thankful of the circumstances that was brought to her now, Maya couldn't resist the urge to hug her sister again and weep a little.

"I believe you, sis, I believe you," Maya said through her tears of happiness.

"I know you do, beloved sister, I would never leave you either." Mia replied as she stroked her sister's soft hair lovingly.

The touching moment was later broken up when Mia's own cell phone had rang in her coat pocket and she began to pick it up to answer it.

"Fey and Co. Law Offices. Mia Fey speaking."

"Oh my dear, Mia, I just heard about what happened in your office, are you and everyone alright?" it was her old boss Samuel Rosenberg on the other end.

"Yes Rosenberg, everyone is safe and accounted for right now," Mia had faked a smiled on the phone.

"Oh good good, Mia, I'm glad to hear that," Rosenberg said in a cheerful voice.

Mia, on the other hand was anything but cheerful when she said "There's obviously a real reason why you're calling me is there?"

'No point in hiding it' went through Rosenberg's mind as he replied "I told you a thousand times that it was dangerous to go after him, Mia, you should've heeded my warning even after you left my law offices."

"If he hadn't have fucked with my family all those years ago, I wouldn't have had this fucking vendetta against him!" Mia nearly shouted at her phone.

"Listen Mia, I know you still think Redd White..." he didn't finish the sentence. Mia yelled back through the phone with pure rage.

"I don't think old man, I know!" Mia exclaimed "Just like I know he had you at his back-pocket when you helped him out my mother a long time ago!"

"Even after you left, you still blame me for your mother's disappearance," Rosenberg sighed "Fine, then. I consider this conversation over."

"Whether you want to admit it or not, I will bring Redd White down and no one will stop me." Mia had hung up the phone then returned to her breakfast.

Nothing further was said as Phoenix and Maya returned to their breakfast as well; they knew it was not a good idea to talk to Mia while she was angry and thought it would be a good idea to wait until she calmed down before resuming conversation with her.

September 7, Rosenberg Law Offices 8:30 P.M.

Practically everyone in the Law Offices of Samuel Rosenberg had gone home at this point, leaving Sam in his own office alone with his own thoughts. His mind kept drifting to that phone call he had with his former employee and how every word she said to him felt like hit with boxing gloves lined with spikes.

If Redd White hadn't have come in and blackmailed me so long ago, who knows where you and I would be today, Mia, thought the old man. He had almost finished his drink as he wallowed in the past with the help of his beloved alcohol.

There was no denying it to himself, he was just as much to blame for what happened to the Fey Family, as Redd White had the bigger bulk of it. Which is probably why he thought that taking Mia Fey in his company would be a step towards redemption, instead it brought him more pain, which only got amplified when she called him out and left the office out of anger when he refused to admit to blackmail.

His eyes were focused on a bulky manila folder that was delivered to his office this morning after he made his phone call to Mia Fey this morning. He found the folder a little confusing because, the folder was marked 'Evidence to be personally picked up by Miles Edgeworth.'

Miles Edgeworth?Sam thought to himself after getting that package. Who made plans to have this delivered my office and have it wait to be picked up by him?

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw the familiar pink suited figure that was Redd White, wearing his charming personality that he usually carried around. Smiling like a lion staring down its prey, Redd began in his high, pompous voice. "My old friend, Samuel Rosenberg, it has been a long time hasn't it?"

After all these years, Rosenberg still knew how to keep a straight face around him, "Yes it has, Mr. White. It has been about a year since we spoke to each other, correct?"

Redd eyed the painting that hung on Sam's wall "It was right around that time I gave you that painting as a reward for your satisfactory services."

"So...um...would you like a drink while you explain your visit to me?" Sam asked as he eyed his antique bar set also given to him by Redd White.

"No drink, Sam, but I would like an explanation..." Redd's demeanor changed from nice to angry "An explanation of why you planned to betray me."

"Betray you?" Sam was shocked and nervous at this accusation "Why would I wanna betray you, I have been doing everything to your standards haven't I?"

"I thought so for a long time," Redd said "Until I found out that you had some evidence to the Prosecutor's Office, evidence that was originally held by that old slut of yours, Mia Fey."

Sam got on the defensive this time "Now Redd White, you know I would have never done that, even if she was the closest thing I had to another daughter."

"Oh really?!" Redd was really angry this time "than maybe you can explain to me why I got this letter from her after I tried to steal that evidence last night."

Redd forcefully shoved Mia's letter on Sam's chest which forced him to read it. It didn't give him time to react on Redd's previous statement. After reading the letter, Sam almost felt like he was pleading for his life at this point "I swear to you, Redd, Mia and I never had a single discussion about this, I would've played the phonecall for you to prove that I didn't."

"Oh really, than why do you have the evidence in that Manilla folder?" Redd asked pointing at said object on Rosenberg's desk.

"What?!" Rosenberg exclaimed "That folder is just regular papers to be delivered to Miles Edgeworth for an upcoming case."

Redd cut him off with a throw of a what looked like an expensive vase "An upcoming case against me!" It was then Redd White took out The Thinker while his voice began to calm down. "Mr. Rosenberg, all these years, I have provided everything for you, made your law offices exquisite and fabulous, and what do you do?" He made the first swing to Rosenberg, "You go and work against me!" Redd yelled again.

"I swear to you, I would never do such a thing!" Sam returned the yell.

Redd refused to listen to reason "Well two can play at this game, if I can't kill Mia Fey, I'll let the "Justice" System kill Mia Fey for me. The only thing I want out of you now, Rosenberg, your eternal silence farewell."

With one huge blow, Redd struck Samuel Rosenberg square on the head with The Thinker, death being almost instant.

"Redd...White...Blue" Were Samuel Rosenberg's final words as he fell to his death. Redd took that opportunity to get the folder from Sam's desk and left the office in a casual fashion.

September, 7 Mia Fey's Car 9:00 P.M.

The entire day was spent with Phoenix getting the rest of his injuries tended by the doctor, a painful experience for someone with a beaten up face. Now here he was with The Fey Sisters driving back to his apartment after he retrieved his painkillers from a 24-Hour Pharmacy. His mind was drifting to how expensive the hospital and medicine would be if Mia Fey couldn't have afforded an Employee Insurance Program which worked out for all of them.

"I know you'll still wanna work on some cases, Nick, but still I don't want you to overwork yourself until you completely recover okay?" Mia said keeping her eyes on the road.

"Yes, Mia, I promise to take it easy while at the office," Phoenix replied as he rested comfortably on Mia's passenger seat. "If necessary, I should let you be the defense attorney in the court room."

"I can agree with that, sis, the stress of the Court Room is obviously not gonna be good for his heart." Maya said as the car sat on a red light, they caught some police cars and an ambulance driving to the street that led to Rosenberg Law Offices.

"Wonder why those cop cars are heading to that street?" Maya asked as the light began to green.

"I don't know, Maya, but I'm gonna find out right now," Mia turned her car to the direction of the police vehicles "You gonna be okay there Phoenix?"

"Yeah I will, Chief, I should be fine enough to even help you with investigation." Phoenix replied as the car began to drive.

September 7, Rosenberg Law Offices Building 9:05 P.M.

Rosenberg Law Offices was settled in a 3 story building that settled alongside the 15 story Gatewater Hotel. A hotel so big that even Fey and Co. Law Offices were neighbored with that Hotel. Mia Fey had parked her car at a parking garage that was attached to the building, where the other cops were parked.

Walking to the elevator that would lead inside, the paramedics carted off a large figure covered by a white bed sheet, signifying that the man was deceased. Mia Fey knew it had to be the one certain person in that hospital cart and she couldn't help but be shocked "Oh my God, Rosenberg.." her choked voice barely came out a whisper.

"Sis what's wrong?" Maya asked when she noticed Mia kneeling down in shock.

"It's Rosenberg, he's *sniff* he's *sniff* dead," Mia finally broke down in tears as she finished.

Just then a gruff voice came to their direction "You three stay right there," a Caucasian figure with mostly brown dress clothing and a face that had a bandage on the right side of his jaw bone and a pencil in his ear. Hair was slightly spiked on the left side of his head, "I'm Detective Gumshoe, see?"

Well, for a detective you sure fit all the clichés. Phoenix thought to himself while noting Gumshoe's Detective Movie Speech Pattern.

"This is a crime scene, see? We apologize but we must ask you to head back to your homes at this time." Gumshoe continued "Got a person saying they saw a murder."

"A murder? You mean that guy who's in the hospital cart?" Phoenix asked.

"Yeah person got identified as Samuel Rosenberg, greatest attorney in the city got himself murdered." Dick replied while his focus was on the elevator which was about to open up.

"Detective Gumshoe, you need to come see this!" shouted an officer from that elevator.

"As you can see, we're pretty busy, so if you don't mind please head back for your homes." Gumshoe told the three as he made his way to the officers direction.

Phoenix thought back to this morning's phone call as he asked Mia "You don't think your old boss got murdered by THAT guy, did you?"

But Mia was still crying so much that she couldn't hear his question. Perhaps it'd be better to ask again when she calms down. Phoenix thought to himself while looking at Mia who was in a kneeling position with Maya trying her best to comfort her.

"Whoaaaaaaaaaah!" came the scream of Detective Gumshoe who was running to their direction with a Ziploc bag in hand, "Scuse, me does the word Mia mean anything to you three?"

Mia had calmed herself enough to answer "Yes? That's my name."

Upon closer inspection, Phoenix took note of a receipt-size paper that had Mia's name written in blood. Dick interrupted him before he could speak "WHAAAAT!? The victim drew this name in his own blood see? With his dying breath the victim wrote down the name of his killer!"

That got a shock from Mia, "Killer? But I didn't..."

Dick cut her off "Case Closed! You're coming down to the precinct, ma'am." He proceeded to slap the cuffs on Mia and drag her to the nearest police car.

Maya and Phoenix were also taken in for questioning and they didn't get out until the next morning. They stuck by their alibi that the three were getting Nick's prescription pain killers at the pharmacy 4 blocks away at the time of the murder. What ultimately made Mia stay in jail though, was all thanks to a recorded conversation of the last phone call she ever had with her old boss.

A/N: It has been brought to my attention that some of you may not know who Samuel Rosenburg is: he's the European name for Marvin Grossberg which we use that name in the American Phoenix Wright. Samuel Rosenburg is used in the European version, I apologize for the confusion.


	3. Chapter 3

Standard Disclaimers Apply

September 8th, Detention Center

There was no denying that both Phoenix and Maya felt heavy due to lack of sleep following the arrest of Mia Fey due to a certain jumpy detective. However, they spent the entire night cleaning up Mia Fey's office since it was still in shambles from the night before, mostly getting their energy to accomplish this task via some bottles of 5 Hour Energy. By the time they cleaned up the office, it was close to visiting hours opening at The Detention Center that was housed at the District Police Department.

That's where they were at, waiting for Mia Fey to come to her side of the viewing glass The Detention Center provided, obviously to prevent prisoner escape. Mia Fey was still in her usual attire when she came in, but her face was anything but normal. Tear stains had covered her cheeks, eyes red from crying, and her face was lacking makeup, looking every bit the funeral mourner. Both of them picked up their phones that was provided by The Detention Center and Phoenix spoke first, "I'd imagine you probably didn't fare better than we did last night."

"I know...I look like crap, Phoenix, but can you really blame me for how I'm feeling?" Mia replied with Phoenix and Maya taking note of her emotionless tone of voice.

"No I suppose I really can't, there's no question, neither Maya or me wouldn't sleep for days if you died," Phoenix decided to do a little cheering up, "...on a more lighter note, Maya and I did take time to clean up your office last night."

That gave Mia a light shock, "Oh you guys didn't have to do that, you should've gone home to sleep," she looked at her student "Especially you, Phoenix, the doctor said to take every rest you can."

"I tried to tell him that, sis, but he was insistent on the fact that he couldn't sleep," Maya replied "but lets get to the situation at hand, all three of us had a concrete alibi of what we did during the time of the murder, so why did they still wanna keep you, sis?"

Mia told them about the angry phone call she had with Samuel Rosenberg and how the cops had considered it evidence on how that it allegedly led to killing her former boss. "They thought it was so concrete, that they didn't even consider calling the Pharmacy after I told them to call over a million times."

Phoenix decided to step in, "Well Chief, perhaps I can be of some assistance."

"How, Nick?" Mia asked

"Last night, I took the liberty of saving the receipts from the pharmacy because they had the date and time stamped and they were printed around 15 minutes before you got arrested," Phoenix continued "With some further investigation, I could definitely find some more concrete clues that will prove your innocence."

Mia couldn't help but look down on the floor, "I know what you're really trying to do, Nick."

"You do, sis?" Maya asked

"I do sis, and as appreciative as I am for him volunteering to do so," she then looked at her student with a firm look, "But I rather he not defend me in court."

To say no more coffee was needed today, was an understatement, when Maya screamed, "What?!" Phoenix flinched a little at the scream.

Mia, on the other hand, was unaffected by the scream, "I said I don't want Phoenix to defend me in court, I'd rather do it myself."

"But wasn't it you that told me last month that Nick needed more experience as a lawyer?" Maya asked as she calmed down.

"That is true I said it, but this is the type of case, that not only takes an experienced attorney, but it's also too dangerous for him."

"But it was also you that said he's a genius," Maya replied, empathy prevalent in her strained voice. "...a genius that needed more experience."

"I never forgot that conversation, Maya," her gaze turned from Maya to Phoenix this time "But looking at him, even he knows that this case is too dangerous for a rookie attorney."

Mia then turned to her sister with a curious look "But I also remember telling you 'I think you might want to give him three more years, unless you want to be found 'guilty', but it surprises me that you're standing up for him."

Phoenix decided to cut in, "It's because last night I told her about how you really hadn't gotten me anymore chances to take a few more cases."

Mia looked at her student who had kept a neutral expression throughout the conversation, "Phoenix, next time, don't ever try to lie because you're too obvious."

Phoenix let out a light smirk, "You're right. I still need to learn how to lie to people."

"I know he's not lying, sis, while we were cleaning your office there were a lot of case files on your desk that you planned to take to court," Maya said "You could've have allowed yourself a break and let Nick work on some of those cases."

Mia took the time to explain how many of those cases that were brought to her office, were in fact, nearly solved when Phoenix had just graduated from his bar exam. By the time Phoenix got formally hired to be part of Fey and Co, Mia had already been in the process of finishing up those cases.

"I'm not saying Phoenix was not a big help in those cases, in fact quite the opposite, he put every cell of his being to helping me with them," Mia looked at him with a sense of pride "Matter of fact, I remember you even pointing out quite a few contradictions that I nearly missed in those cases."

"I never have forgotten those days, Chief," Phoenix replied "But now, more than ever, it's time for me to take my second case."

Before Mia could repeat her refusal Phoenix cut her off "No, Chief, that incident the other night, it opened my eyes to the reality of this job, you almost being killed made me realize that this job is not fun and games, never has been, never will be."

As a gesture Phoenix put his hand on the glass, Mia caught the gesture and put her hand on the exact spot where his was, Phoenix continued "But that does not defer me from what my real destiny is, to defend the innocent who had been accused, sure this job is dangerous but I'm ready to take it head on. I'm ready to finally pay you back."

This got a shock from Mia "Pay me back?"

Phoenix nodded, "I owe you more than you think, Chief, since we first met each other, you have been just as big an inspiration to me as Larry Butz was a long time ago."

Mia remembered that conversation from that long ago "You said it yourself, you owe your career as an attorney to him, but at the same time you owe your career as an attorney to me?"

"I do, Mia, that's why I'm ready, I'm ready to travel to the ends of the Earth to get you out of there," Phoenix looked at Maya then continued "Even your sister has faith in me that I can do this, matter of fact, she even agreed to help me with this."

That put the final bullet in this argument as Mia then looked at her little sister with genuine surprise, her sister having so much faith in her own student. The surprise eventually faded when Mia looked at Phoenix and said "The fact that my sister has put her faith in you, is reason enough for me to change my mind, so therefore I will grant you my permission to represent me in court tomorrow."

Mia took the time to write a letter of consent for Phoenix to show the authorities that he was defending her, which Phoenix himself took and folded in his pocket. "You don't have much time, guys, find out what you can about the case and report your findings to me by tomorrow." Mia said as Phoenix and Maya promptly left for the scene of the crime, Rosenberg Law Offices.

September 8th, Taxi Cab 723

Phoenix could drive, he had a driver's license, he used to even have a car of his own. But there were a lot of factors on why he chose not to drive right now, biggest one was that he was saving most of his money to buy a new one. Which is why he and Maya were traveling to Rosenberg Law Offices via a Taxi Cab. The first three minutes of the trip were fairly silent for both Maya and Phoenix, mostly because they wanted to get settled into the cab that picked them up. Maya broke the ice, as she was not one for silence. "You know, Nick, you forgot to tell her about how I told you about my family."

"I was going to, until you got a little dramatic in the conversation over there." Phoenix replied.

Maya had to let out a little chuckle, "My apologies for that, it's just that, I sincerely believed that Mia would at first agree with you defending her in Court. As s matter of fact I'm more surprised at how calm you were through that."

"Apparently there are some things about our law office that she may not have told about yet," Phoenix said as he began to take his medicine.

Her curiosity got sparked "What do you mean? She would always tell me everything about her job."

Phoenix finished taking a drink of water as he replied "Don't get me wrong, I'm sure she told you a lot of things, but what I was really referring to, is a certain book that Fey and Co. Law Offices practically adapted like a Bible for our law office."

"What book?" Maya asked

"A military treatise written a long time ago by Chinese War General Sun Tzu, The Art of War." Phoenix replied

"Oh, well I do have an idea of what that book is, Mia told me about it lots of times throughout her studies," Maya herself took a drink at Nick's offering "But I never thought she would take every word of it so seriously."

"Oh trust me, if you want to be successful in every aspect of life, you would take it seriously," Phoenix put the water bottle at the Taxi cup holder "In fact, not one week before your sister hired me, she gave me a copy of it along with the paperwork required for new employees. She told me that it was required to read it every week at least."

Maya felt clarification, "So that's why you were so calm over at The Detention Center, because of The Art of War."

Phoenix nodded then recited a verse "He who knows them will be victorious; he who does not know them will fail."

Maya thought about it for a moment then nodded in reply, "That actually does make a lot of sense, I'm gonna have to make plans to read over that book at some point.'

"I'll get you a copy of it tonight we have extras at the office." Phoenix said as the Taxi made it to the Parking Garage.

Phoenix made arrangements with the driver to have a thirty minute wait and paid the necessary funds to make it possible, but if they didn't come out of there in thirty minutes than the driver could leave and they could get another cab. When Phoenix and Maya made it to the elevator, she told him "Just to remind you, Nick, you were right about what you told my sister, I do have faith in you and I'm willing to help enforce that faith."

"I know you do, and I thank you for it, because I'm definitely gonna need it." Phoenix replied as the elevator began to make its travel.

September 7, Rosenberg Law Offices

It was no secret that practically no police officer had gotten any sleep as they worked tirelessly around the clock, searching for clues and evidence that would hopefully lead to Mia Fey's guilty verdict. That was exactly what was going on when Phoenix and Maya had exited their elevator. Not getting into five steps from Rosenberg's office, they had gotten stopped by that same detective who arrested Mia Fey last night. Dick Gumshoe.

"Hey! This is a crime scene, pal, no trespassing!" His face later changed to curious as he recognized Phoenix "Wait, don't I know you from somewhere?" Then it suddenly it hit him "Wait, you're Larry Butz aren't you?"

Maya nearly fell down on the floor before saying "What no, his name is Phoenix Wright."

He looked at the Spirit Medium before getting angry, "Hey, wait a minute didn't we arrest you last night, Mia Fey?"

"A little too young to be her OLDER sister, ain't she, sir? That's Maya Fey to you," Phoenix interjected.

Gumshoe scratched his head and replied "Oh I got the two of you confused, sorry Ms. Fey and Mr. Wright," they were about to forgive him when he said "That Butz guy, he was a killer, and you're no killer, right?"

Phoenix just shook his head in disgust, "You obviously don't read newspapers much, do you?"

Gumshoe asked with a shock "Excuse me?"

"Cindy Stone's real killer was exposed in the papers after that trial, and Larry Butz was not the real killer, it was the work of a regular burglar." Phoenix replied.

"Guess you're right. I missed that newspaper because I was busy with another murder case," Gumshoe replied.

Maya cut in "Next time, do some more reading, you might actually learn something."

"Now your name was Detective Suedeshoes right?" Phoenix asked knowing full well who his real name was.

"That's me! Don't step on my blue suede shoes...hey, wait a minute, that's a song pal!" Gumshoe yelled while Maya literally fell on the floor in a fit of laughter. "That's Detective Gumshoe to you, pal!"

Phoenix later took out his wallet and showed his license to Gumshoe with a threatening glare "And my name is Phoenix Wright and that girl you see laughing at is Maya Fey and as you can see, she is not dressed as a lawyer, so next time pay...more...attention."

Phoenix later reached for Mia's letter, that settled in the same pocket, "Now that we got the friendly introduction out of the way, I come here to bring you this letter of representation from Mia Fey, that she has accepted my services as a Defense Attorney."

Gumshoe took the letter, read it, and replied "Well that does take care of the trial tomorrow, but still I can't let you into the crime scene."

Phoenix shook his head "No you can't but as her Attorney, I do have the right of access to the evidence that y'all acquired for the trial."

Just then a voice called out "Hey Dick, get your ass over here!"

"Yes sir," Gumshoe turned his head back in reply before turning back to Phoenix "Okay, whatever business you guys have on this case you better make it quick."

They were finally allowed into the room, already the scene was haunting, crime scene tape had covered the wall area to the floor. The tape had laid underneath a painting, a camper watching the sunset, 'Very expensive looking, painting' Phoenix said as he noted that painting on the wall.

The scene in it's entirety, almost looked exactly like what Mia's office did when it got attacked. Killer has a habit of making a mess when he makes a kill, Maya thought as her mind drifted to them cleaning the office last night.

Gumshoe looked at them and pointed to Rosenberg's desk "Desk has been checked clean, all evidence we have found in this office are in those Ziploc bags, just take what you need and leave."

While Phoenix took out his phone, he asked Gumshoe, "What about Autopsy Report, do you have that yet?"

"Coroner is actually printing that out, it'll be faxed to us shortly." Gumshoe replied as he continued his business.

Both Phoenix and Maya turned their attention to the desk that held the evidence found at the crime scene. First item that came to their attention was The Thinker, now covered in blood on the top of the head.

"Looks like the killer used The Thinker and left it here," Maya noted as she watched Phoenix taking the information in his smart phone

"From the looks of things, the statue had been used in only one hit, but if there were more hits out of that statue, it looks tougher than it already was." Nick replied noticing how The Thinker practically looked undamaged.

"Instead of calling this a clock, we might as well call this a killer." Maya had noted which got a snort of humor from Nick himself because of the truth behind her statement.

Phoenix turned his attention to the next item, "Well here's the receipt that made them pin the murder on her."

"The writing on this receipt is too fancy to be written by a dead man," Maya noted the sophisticated handwriting on the receipt.

"Go ahead and turn the receipt over. I don't wanna leave any details out." Maya followed his orders and he began to take note of the contents of the receipt "This receipt is for a glass vase, price ran for 1000 dollars. He purchased this vase before he was murdered."

Maya eyed the final bag "Would that explain the glass shards in this bag, Nick?"

Phoenix recorded the information to his phone "Honestly, I don't think these shards are gonna be of much help in the case, but again I don't wanna leave any details out."

They just finished taking in the evidence in his phone and saved all information to the official Court Records app that the city provided every attorney with along with the free smart phone Just then Gumshoe came in to their direction "Hey Mr. Wright, the Autopsy just came in," he handed Phoenix a freshly sealed transparent clasp envelope that contained said report.

Upon looking at the report on the transparent side, Phoenix proceeded to ask "So Sam's death was instantaneous?"

"That's right pal, he was one of the best Attorney's in the business," Gumshoe replied. "I gotta admit, I'm gonna miss Samuel Rosenberg"

Phoenix looked at him curiously "You actually knew him, Detective?"

"Sure. All of us down at the precinct knew Mr. Rosenberg," he began to get teary "Much as it pains me to say this, we're gonna miss his company."

Maya asked "What about my sister?"

"Yeah! I'm looking forward to the trial tomorrow, sorry pal, you are definitely not gonna win this one." Gumshoe looked more happy than sorry.

"And may I ask why?" Phoenix asked keeping his face neutral.

"The city has appointed Prosecutor Edgeworth on the case!" Gumshoe later asked "I'm sure you know what that means, you being a lawyer and all."

"The same Edgeworth, that doesn't stop until he gets his guilty verdict? The same Edgeworth that doesn't feel pain or remorse when he's at work?" Phoenix had a little venom in his voice.

"Hey don't talk about him like that, you make him barely sound human," Gumshoe feigned hurt feelings "Still, I'm afraid this pretty much decides the case."

He heard of Edgeworth indeed, how since the ripe age of 20, had stopped at nothing to get a guilty verdict, and when he did he never felt remorse or sympathy for the people he would prosecute. With every person in the Judicial System, though, not even Edgeworth was immune to rumors of back alley deals and forged evidence, 'Never thought, I would face him so soon.' Phoenix thought silently to himself.

"Anyway are the both of you done?" Gumshoe asked.

"Yeah we're done here, thank you very much," Phoenix replied before Gumshoe interjected.

"Wait, I got one more thing I wanna mention to you."

"What's that?" Maya asked

"We have a witness at the Gatewater Hotel who called in the murder, we advise you to not talk to her, we don't want you influencing her with your lawyerly ways, pal."

"A...witness?" Phoenix and Maya asked.

"Miss April May, and again I can't tell you anything about her."

"How was she able to see this crime, let alone call you guys?" Phoenix asked before Gumshoe pointed to the window that was on the other side of the office, the building in front of the window was a suite at The Gatewater Hotel.

Looking at the time on the phone, Phoenix said "Taxi is about to leave, we better go ahead and head out of here." Maya nodded silently and stepped aside to allow Phoenix to leave the desk with the intent to follow him behind, but right before she followed, her eyes traveled and noticed a crumpled up letter on the bottom of the desk. Without anyone knowing, she knelt down to pick up that paper. 'This note was written by sis' Maya thought as she tucked the letter in her robes. She later made a light jog to the door, joining Phoenix as they made their way back to the elevator and the cab.

September 7, Gatewater Hotel Lobby

Anyone who hasn't been into the magnificent beauty of the Gatewater Hotel would sometimes wonder why they hadn't got into the hotel sooner. Rookie attorney's salary didn't allow Phoenix Wright to get a room to this hotel, though, 'Why would I wanna stay in a hotel when I live here anyway?' Phoenix thought to himself as he walked into the hotel lobby.

"Are you sure no one is gonna stop us from barging in yet, Nick?" Maya asked while they avoided the check in desk.

"Yes I'm sure they won't stop us, because this hotel is so busy, just me wearing a business suit and a briefcase would make everyone think that I'm another client of the hotel." Phoenix replied as they made their way to a certain elevator that would lead them to their room.

"Well I must say, Nick, you do look sharp in that suit," Maya said as they entered the elevator.

"Give your sister credit, for such a small law firm we do make good enough money for her to pay me well," Phoenix replied while looking at Maya's Spirit Medium garb "I will also say that you don't look half bad either."

Maya couldn't help but giggle and give a soft jab on his left arm, "Oh you behave yourself, mister."

"Ow, Maya, watch the jabs I still hurt," Phoenix rubbed his still tender arm "Besides I was only paying you a compliment."

"Oh shit, I forgot about your pain, I am so sorry," Maya's tone dropped like glass as she began to kiss that arm "There hopefully that will make it all better."

He had started to blush softly when she did that, he kept his gaze towards her as she gazed back. Eyes had never left each other throughout the entire elevator ride. The feelings that were going through them felt so new to them, Phoenix in particular hadn't felt this type of feeling since after he gotten to know Mia Fey back when he was still in college. Obviously both Mia and Phoenix were not dating at the time, he was instead going out with a lady who got convicted of murder, a certain lady who betrayed him by framing him for that crime. Not since that day, had he ever felt what he was starting to feel for Maya who gazed softly at him. Maya Fey on the other hand, hadn't felt that way ever, primarily because her studies to be a Spirit Medium had got in the way. She had always hoped she would find love someday, after all, if Spirit Mediums weren't allowed to love and marry she wouldn't have been born.

Phoenix had thought about their conversation last night, when they couldn't sleep and decided to clean Mia Fey's office, when Maya told him how she and Mia Fey were practically the only people that could rely on each other, how they both lost their father mysteriously when Maya was barely a year old. How they lost their mother after she disappeared during the DL-6 Incident when both Mia and Phoenix were practically still in Grade School. He had been in their shoes before, he knew what it was like to be alone.

"Listen, Maya, no matter what it takes, I'm gonna get your sister back," Phoenix said as he wrapped the bruised arm around her in a gentle hug, "Don't know if I'm gonna bring Redd White down as well, but I can and will prove that Mia Fey didn't commit the crime."

Maya in return placed her gentle hands on his chest and replied "I know you will, Phoenix Wright, I have my utmost faith in you."

Nothing would happen between them though as the elevator made it to their destination and they released from their embrace. From what the building map said the room that faced Rosenberg Law Offices would be in this floor and the room in particular would belong to Room 888, which they found easily thanks to a sign that located that room. Upon arrival of the room, Phoenix knocked on the door.

September 8, Gatewater Hotel Room 888

"Well hello there, handsome," came the Valley Girl sounding voice of April May as she opened the door to let them in.

"Hello to you, Miss April May was it?" Phoenix asked he and Maya let themselves in.

"That's my name. Don't wear it out," Phoenix and Maya sweat dropped at the cliched joke April pulled before she asked "You're the lawyer, aren't you?"

"No he's the guy who got the wrong room number for delivering pizza," Maya replied in extreme sarcasm, "Of course he's the lawyer for this case."

"Well I got nothing to say to you, the detective said 'Don't say anything to that lawyer, pal!' Tee Hee!" April had obviously ignored Maya's comment.

'Sheesh, Gumshoe, way to make my job easier.' Phoenix thought to himself while oblivious to April's giddy scream.

"I'm so excited for tomorrow I can hardly contain myself," she made her way to the hotel bathroom "Make yourselves at home while I go freshen up to look the part of the beautiful eyewitness!"

As the door closed behind them, Phoenix made a whisper to Maya "It's gonna be a lot of fun cross-examining her tomorrow."

"No kidding, Phoenix, she's too giddy to even be a make-up salesgirl," Maya returned the whisper before she saw a screwdriver in the dresser drawer, "hey Nick, look at that dresser."

Phoenix turned his head to said drawer which was half open by the screwdriver, "Well let's check it out but be extremely quiet about it."

Surprisingly both Phoenix and Maya were quiet like a mouse when they snuck to that drawer and opened it "Well what do we have here?" Phoenix asked in silent surprise when he eyed a black box in there.

"What is it exactly?" Maya genuinely had no idea what it was.

"It's a Wiretap, it's used by some law enforcement officials to listen to some phone calls, you obviously have to get a warrant to really use one of these."

"Then what is she doing with a thing like this?" Maya asked as Phoenix scanned the item to his smart phone

Phoenix put the drawer and screwdriver back in place as he replied "I honestly don't know but there is definitely something suspicious about that Valley Girl chick."

When April May came out of the bathroom, Phoenix and Maya were already back where they were when they came through the door, "So anything you all wanna try and ask me about?"

"Actually no we were about to leave, any question I wanna ask, we'll wait for until tomorrow." Phoenix replied as they walked out the door.

"Oh well okay," April May later went to Phoenix and whispered to him "After the trial maybe you and I can have some real fun, big boy."

Phoenix made a slight nod as he and Maya walked out the door and back to the elevator, "What was that for?" Maya asked

"Was trying to pit me against your sister by wanting to sleep with me," Phoenix replied as if criticizing bad coffee.

"Are you kidding me?! That's playing dirty in a bad way," Maya exclaimed as they went to the elevator.

"I know what you mean, but thank your sister who taught me the correct ways to handle that."

"Sis also dealt with that?"

"Yeah many times, she never accepted those types of offers though, and for a girl with her appearance that's saying a lot."

"I cannot tell you how much I envy my sister and how beautiful she looks."

Phoenix then gently pulled her close to whisper "Personally, I think you're better looking than her."

Maya was blushing furiously this time "Are you serious, Nick?" she asked in a stutter.

"Always thought that since you woke me up at Mia Fey's office," Phoenix whispered in her ear.

For awhile they held each other in a hug until the elevator reached the lobby when Phoenix got back into professional mode "This wiretap is gonna be of good use for us in court."

"I do hope you're right Phoenix, for Mia's sake." Maya said as they went to get a cab.

"But before we head back to the office, we gotta head back to the pharmacy," Phoenix said as he took another dose of medicine.

"Why do we need to head to the pharmacy, Nick, don't you already have the receipts?"

"Yeah they're still in the office, I just need to head over there to get some face masks, that perfume Miss May was wearing was hurting my nose."

Suddenly, Maya was in a brief thought about something before turning to Nick, "Wait a minute, I got an idea."


	4. Chapter 4

Standard Disclaimers Apply

September 9, District Courtroom Defense Lobby No 3. 9:30 AM

"You look like you didn't get much sleep, Phoenix." Mia said while Phoenix was taking a drink of a 5 Hour Energy Shot.

"...I was trying to put some of the puzzle pieces together for our case, and so many questions were running through my mind." Phoenix said while taking a drink of water to prevent dehydration, "... I did take it easy and get enough sleep...but it still hurts a little."

Mia had walked to where Phoenix was getting his water; "It's not to late to change your mind, Phoenix, I don't want you to get stressed out." She spoke, her tone softened with sympathy.

"...I know why you want me to change my mind," Phoenix replied, a discerning look on his face, accenting the suspicious look in his eyes. "...it's because of Miles Edgeworth."

A light shock pulsed through Mia, but she quickly shrugged it off. "Exactly because of Edgeworth, Phoenix. He doesn't care about pain; he will bury you if you show weakness."

Phoenix took another drink of water to help the medicine make its way down, "It's like I told you yesterday; I wouldn't do this if I didn't take this job seriously, let alone wanted to," he looked at his mentor, a hawk-like stare in his eyes. "Besides, I got personal reasons to why I wanna take him on."

"Personal reasons?" Mia asked curiously

"Yes, Mia, reasons that would be related to when I defended Larry Butz," before he began to explain further, Maya burst into the defendant's lobby, wearing what looked to be a business suit.

"Wow Maya," Mia said as she took notice of Maya wearing an outfit that was similar to her own; albeit,it was in the size of a seventeen year old teenager."This is the first time I've ever seen you in a suit."

"Yeah...I bought a few suits for her because of the courtroom's dress code; it turns out, we can be held in contempt if she's wearing her acolyte outfit, so I had to take the extra measures to prevent a disaster from happening."

"Kinda figured they wouldn't allow your clothing in the court room even though it's religious clothing," Mia replied as she hugged her sister while getting a good look at her sophistication.

"It's okay, Mia, even without the dress code, I wanted to take every aspect of this job as seriously as Phoenix is doing," Maya said while dividing her gaze between Phoenix and her sister.

Mia chuckled at the scene, "So you're trying to be an attorney as well? Who's gonna run the farm in your place?"

"I still plan to be a medium, Sis, it's just that I don't wanna be the cause of you losing your cases."

"And I must say, your sister is proving to be a valuable help in my own investigation of the case," Phoenix said as he took out his phone for the Court Records app.

"Has she really?" Mia asked as she looked at the evidence in his phone and caught something in her eye. "A wiretap?"

"Found at the Gatewater Hotel along with the alleged witness," Phoenix replied while putting the phone up. "Was sticking out like a sore thumb when Maya found it alongside a screwdriver in a dresser drawer."

"And I assume the witness is gonna be testifying today?" Mia asked.

"When the moment arrives I'm gonna ask her about this Wiretap," Phoenix stated after the bailiff called for them to enter the court room. "I don't believe she committed the crime but she was definitely an accomplice."

"Well, before you get started, Phoenix, I got another piece of advice for you: don't be afraid the press every question on the witness stand if you can't find a contradiction in his testimony," Mia said as they walked into the court room.

"Kinda like how you do it right, Chief?" Phoenix asked.

"Yes, Phoenix, and I'm sure my sister will be a bigger help for you during this trial." Mia looked at her sister who smiled gently at her.

"I have no doubt in my mind about that," Phoenix said as the trio took their place in the Defendant's Desk.

September 9, 10:00 AM District Court Courtroom No. 1

Across from Phoenix's side of the courtroom, came Miles Edgeworth on what was obviously his prosecution bench, wearing what many considered his trademark suit: dark purple sports coat, matching pants, white button up shirt that layer underneath a black vest and matching black dress shoes. His expression was exactly how Phoenix and Maya described it: he looked cold, calculating, and ready to attack at any sign of weakness.

"All rise," yelled the bailiff, makingthe entire courtroom stand up from their chairs at attention as the Judge presiding the case made his way to his judicial desk which centered at the court and was the highest platform of the entire courtroom.

The crowd was still talking as both they and the judge began to sit down. He pounded the gavel, bringing them to silence. "This court will come to order for the trial of Ms. Mia Fey."

"The prosecution is ready, Your Honor," Miles said as he connected his smartphone to the Prosecutor's Bench.

"The defense is ready, Your Honor," Phoenix said while doing the same.

"Very well, Mr. Edgeworth, if you will give your opening statement." said the Judge

"Yes, Your Honor," Edgeworth replied while pointing at Mia. "The defendant, Ms. Mia Fey, was at the scene of the crime, and we have enough decisive to prove that she committed the murder, as well as a witness who saw her do it."

"I see," the Judge replied. "Thank you, Mr. Edgeworth, now if you would call your first witness."

"The prosecution calls the chief officer at the scene, Detective Gumshoe." Dick Gumshoe walked into the platform reserved for witnesses. "Now, Witness, please state your name and profession to the court."

"Detective Dick Gumshoe, of the Los Angeles Homicide Police Division."

"Now Detective Gumshoe, if you can describe to the court the details of the murder," Edgeworth said.

"Yes, sir, I have a floor map of the office to explain." A screen illuminated from the witness stand with a picture of a map that depicted Samuel Rosenberg's office.

Gumshoe posted a victim symbol on a spot near the painting, where the body was found, and how it faced a window. Cause of death was loss of blood due to a blunt object, which obviously belonged to "The Thinker", found next to the body.

"It was heavy enough to be a deadly weapon, even in a girl's hands," Gumshoe said as he finished his Crime Scene description.

After the floor plans were added to Wright and Edgeworth's court records, Miles asked, "Now, Gumshoe, you immediately arrested Ms. Mia Fey who was at Rosenberg's parking garage, correct?"

"Yes, sir, and I have hard evidence she did it," Gumshoe replied jauntily.

"Detective Gumshoe, if you can testify to the court about this 'hard evidence,'" the Judge requested.

Gumshoe testified that on September 7th, a phone call came in about a murder and how he and his squad rushed to the scene, they were the only ones in the crime scene after the murder. They immediately arrested Mia Fey after finding her name on a receipt written in blood and a recording of the angry phone call that she had with Rosenberg. He passively made a statement that a witness had saw Mia Fey the very moment of the murder.

"Hm...The very moment, you say?" the Judge asked after the testimony then looked at Phoenix. "Mr. Wright, you may begin cross-examination."

"Yes, Your Honor," Phoenix replied firmly before looking at the testimony transcripts on his Defense Desk.

Phoenix turned to Gumshoe. "Now Gumshoe, when you received a phone call about the murder, who did you get the phone call from?"

"The call was from a customer at the Gatewater Hotel, right across from the crime scene."

"And did she see the murderer leave the crime scene?"

"She saw the murder and Ms. Fey leaving the crime scene."

"Now when you did receive the phone call, and what time did you arrive at the crime scene?"

"Three minutes after the murder," Gumshoe then looked at Mia "Mia had attempted to return to the crime scene two minutes after we arrived."

"And upon you finding some decisive evidence on Mia Fey, you immediately arrested her?"

"Yes."

"Now earlier before testifying, you said that you had 'hard evidence,' am I not wrong about that?" Phoenix asked.

"Did I say that?" Gumshoe was confused. "Me?"

There was unanimous agreement between Wright, Edgeworth and the Judge that Gumshoe had said it "Exactly what about this witnesses' claim was hard evidence?" Phoenix asked after pounding his desk.

The Judge cut in, "Do you have any more solid proof other than her claims, Detective?"

Phoenix kept neutral as Gumshoe said, "Sorry, I got the order of things mixed up in my testimony, Your Honor."

'Doesn't surprise me that he would answer that.' Phoenix thought to himself while Gumshoe began to start another testimony.

Gumshoe testified that prior to Mia Fey returning to the crime scene, he had found a piece of paper next to the victim's body. Mia's name was written in blood and lab tests showed the blood was the victim's, thanks to blood on the victim's finger.

After the testimony concluded, the judge asked, "Why didn't you testify about this vital piece of evidence the first time?"

Gumshoe scratched his head in embarrassment. "I forgot about it, Your Honor."

"Try to be more careful, Gumshoe, the defense may begin its cross-examination." The Judge looked at Phoenix as he opened the new transcript.

"Actually, before I begin the cross examination, Your Honor, I'd like to ask a question," Phoenix said after reading the transcript.

"Yes, Mr. Wright, what is it?" the Judge replied.

"Judging by the testimony by Detective Gumshoe, was there by chance an update to the Autopsy?" Phoenix had his gaze firmly on Edgeworth.

"How did you know about an updated autopsy, Wright?" Edgeworth asked with slight surprise, although he lacked a matching facial expression.

"Well, from the looks of this testimony," Phoenix smirked, "either there's an updated autopsy or he's lying."

"Wow, Mr. Wright, you're catching on quick." Edgeworth tapped a few things on his phone screen. "Your Honor, the defense is correct in saying that there was an updated autopsy that had been completed as of this morning."

The autopsy was updated to include the details about Rosenberg living a few minutes before his death. Phoenix looked at Gumshoe and said, "Detective, do you mistake me for a fool because I believed the prior autopsy of your testimony?"

"Me? No but I…" Gumshoe stammered the rest of his sentence.

Edgeworth cut him off, "Detective Gumshoe, I am disappointed in you for handing him a report like that."

Gumshoe then felt guilt course through him. "Oh, I'm sorry, sir."

"This isn't going to look good on your evaluation next month," Edgeworth said coldly. "Your Honor, I submit this report to the court."

Phoenix decided to jump in. "Your Honor, the evidence strongly suggests the victim was identifying his alleged killer."

"What do you mean by alleged?" Edgeworth asked.

"Both Mia and I stand by our alibi of her taking me to the drug store while the murder occurred, Edgeworth, whether you like it or not," Phoenix replied with a glare.

"Believe what you want to believe, Mr. Wright, but I do have a witness that says otherwise." Edgeworth looked at the judge "Your Honor, the prosecution would like to call Miss April May to the stand."

The Judge accepted Edgeworth's request, allowing April May to take the Witness stand. April May had appeared in her usual attire of a pink suit with heart shaped buttons, pink skirt, and matching pink heels with heart shaped symbols. Her personality sprayed out Valley Girl like an expensive perfume, which was not good for Phoenix's still sore nose. Luckily both he and Maya came prepared as the Spirit Medium reached for the face masks in her new purse.

"Mr. Wright, may I ask what you're doing?" the Judge asked

"My apologies, Your Honor, but the witness is wearing a perfume that is harmful to my nose," Phoenix replied as he began to put the face mask on. "I'm sure the court can still hear me through the microphone, can you your honor?"

"Not gonna lie, you do sound muffled, but for your health I'll allow you to wear that mask," the Judge said.

Before April could even get slightly offended, Edgeworth got to business "Witness, your name, please."

'Well if I can't charm him, I'll charm the room,' April thought of Wright as she replied "I'm April May, at your service!" she ended her sentence with a seductive wink.

Needless to say the men in the court room were acting like audience in a strip club before the Judge pounded the gavel. "Order in the court, an introduction should not require any reaction from the crowd!" He slightly lowered his voice. "Witness, you are to refrain from your wanton winking."

April disappointedly complied with the Judge's request and Edgeworth continued "Now, Miss May, you were at the Gatewater Hotel the night of September 7th, correct?"

"Correct, big boy, I checked in right after lunch," April replied in a sweet voice to Edgeworth.

"Kindly testify to the court about what you saw." The Judge said as she began to give her testimony.

April testified that around 8:30 PM, the time of the murder, she saw a chunky man being attacked from the view of her hotel window. Naturally she pinned the blame on Mia; in describing the attack, she described how the victim had made a dodge and tried to run away before Mia allegedly caught up to him. The final half of the testimony described how she saw Rosenberg slumped against a painting.

Upon her finishing the testimony, the Judge was still in deep thought before Edgeworth snapped at him, "Well, Your Honor?"

The Judge caught on. "I see. With a solid testimony like hers, I see no reason to trouble the witness any..."

Phoenix cut him off "Your Honor, the defense would still like to cross-examine the witness."

The Judge looked at Nick curiously, "I honestly thought the witness's testimony was quite...firm." He didn't want any pun intended.

Edgeworth later cut in with a smirk, "Mr. Wright...I understand you are your clients understudy were you not?"

"So what if I am, Edgeworth?" Phoenix replied with a glare at the prosecutor.

"So you must know her techniques well," Edgeworth shook his head in sarcasm "Her cowardly way of finding tiny faults in perfectly good testimonies."

Phoenix didn't hesitate when he pounded his desk. "Yeah, I've been in the courtroom with her." Then he pointed his finger at Edgeworth. "But because of those tactics, she rarely lost a case, and I don't care how cowardly you think it is, I'm gonna follow those tactics whether you like it or not, coward."

"Mr. Wright, you will refrain from your personal attacks on Edgeworth." The Judge glared at Wright before continuing. "Very well, if you wish to cross-examine, you may do so."

Phoenix looked at both of them coolly. "Yes, Your Honor." He turned his gaze to April, "Now this 'chunky man' you described in your testimony, is one Samuel Rosenberg, correct?"

"Mmm-hmm, big and gross, and some might say old," she looked at Nick teasingly. "If that's your thing."

Phoenix ignored that comment and continued, "Now when you allegedly saw the crime, how would you describe the defendant?"

"She was slender with a busty figure, and pretty."

That last statement really got Nick's attention before he pounded his desk "Miss May, you wanna know something glaring about that statement?"

"W-what!?" April flinched a little

"Did you really see the defendant at all?" Phoenix asked before the Judge cut in.

"Mr. Wright! What's the meaning of this?"

"That's the same question I'd like to ask the witness," Phoenix didn't miss a beat "because if she witnessed my client, Mia Fey, committing the murder," he pointed his finger to April, "You would've noticed her clothes before her physique."

April really flinched before Nick laid it in thicker and heavier. "Now I'm no expert on fashion, but I do know this, very rarely do murders get committed in the nude, and Miss Fey was not nude during the night of murder." He pounded his desk. "This testimony is bogus."

Mia, who had sat patiently behind Nick the whole time, had to shake her head in amusement at his statement. 'At least his mind is not in the gutter,' she thought to herself.

The Judge was curious. "Still, Mr. Wright, we don't know if she was dressed that way the night of the murder..."

Phoenix cut him off. "Your Honor, Detective Gumshoe can verify that Mia Fey was wearing her usual suit on the night of the murder." He looked at April again. "Can you verify the same thing, Miss May?"

April growled angrily and said, "What are you trying to say, you mean lawyer, I saw what I saw!"

The Judge wouldn't have it. "Miss May, the court would like to remind you to omit nothing from your testimony."

She apologized frantically and began another testimony. She testified that the victim had run off to the right after he dodged the first attack. Her final half of the testimony described the murder weapon, the Thinker clock.

"Defense, begin your cross-examination," the Judge said without delay.

Phoenix was doing a run through of the testimony transcripts on his screen and asked April, "Now Miss May, about this weapon, where exactly did it come from?"

"She picked it up from the desk," April replied.

"And what kind of weapon was it again?" Phoenix asked almost knowing that answer.

"A clock, the Thinker statue, I think." April looked as if she was thinking of a make-up catalog.

Phoenix really got into it, "The Thinker you say? Miss May what you just said was revealing?"

"Ooh, you'd like that, wouldn't you, Mr. Lawyer." April was being seductive.

Phoenix ignored her and said "You said that this statue of "The Thinker" was a clock. But there's no way of knowing just by looking at it!" He accessed his Court Records app and presented the statue "Another person that stood in your position called this a clock as well and he was found guilty of murder...last month."

The courtroom crowd got riled up again before the gavel got pounded "Order! Order!" the Judge yelled and the crowd quieted down.

"Now, Miss May, can you explain how you know this was a clock?"

Edgeworth cut in, "OBJECTION! The witness saw the murder with her own eyes, that's the important matter here!."

"I agree Mr. Edgeworth," the Judge replied. "Mr. Wright you will withdraw that question."

Wright wouldn't have it "OBJECTION! Your Honor, questions are all I have; Mia and I have caught murderers before with these questions."

The Judge slightly pondered, "Objection sustained, you may continue to question the witness."

"I'll ask you again, Miss May, how did you know it was a clock?" Phoenix asked, his eyes were on the witness again.

Stuttering for a few seconds April found the answer she was looking for "I heard it...yes I heard the time." The excitement she felt didn't last long though.

"Heard the time? So you've been in Rosenberg Law Offices?" Phoenix didn't miss a beat.

April got on the defensive. "No, why would I wanna go there, anyway?"

Edgeworth cut in again "The murder took place at Rosenberg Law Offices and the hotel was very close, she could've heard the clock easily."

"Your Honor, members of the court," Phoenix said as began to put a request for the Thinker to appear physically on his desk. "I have proof that the clock couldn't have rung."

He handed the statue to The Judge who easily detached the statue from the base, "See anything interesting, Your Honor?"

Upon further inspection of the statue, the Judge agreed with his statement "This clock is missing is clockwork. It's quite empty."

While the Judge looked at the statue, Phoenix looked at Edgeworth with a tense look. 'I know he's probably gonna pull a trick on me, I better get ready for more proof,' he thought to himself while he ran through his evidence on The Court Records and noticed Maya's phone.

"Your Honor, I have further evidence that verifies that the clock was removed," Phoenix said as the Thinker was returned back to his desk. He presented Maya's Cell Phone to the Court. "Ladies and gentlemen, I bring your attention to this phone."

"Well for a second cell phone, that is pretty cute," the Judge said while taking in its flashy pink appearance.

"No, my cell phone is connected to the desk, this phone belongs to the sister of my client, and it has a recording of a conversation that happened the day before the murder," Phoenix replied while proceeding to access the recording while the court room got riled up again.

"Order! Order!" the Judge screamed again after pounding the gavel.

"A cell phone!? This wasn't brought to my attention!" Edgeworth said clearly livid at this new revelation.

"That's because this phone was not being accepted as evidence at the time," Phoenix replied before formally entering it to evidence. "Now without further ado, I want to play the conversation that went between Mia and her sister."

The phone played the conversation that Mia had with Maya, describing how the clock was not working and how she had to take the clockwork out. When the phone finished the conversation, Phoenix said "As you can see, this recording makes it clear that the clockwork was already gone, and this was recorded in the morning before the murder at Rosenburg Law Offices."

Edgeworth was genuinely fascinated by these facts brought before him, "So wait, Mr. Wright, the defendant had originally called her sister to hold the statue?"

Phoenix took a long hard look at Edgeworth and made a deep thought to himself, he later replied "Yes, Mr. Edgeworth, upon further hearing of the conversation, the statue was originally used to store evidence for an upcoming case that Ms. Mia Fey was gonna take part in." Pounding his desk again Phoenix continued, "But the night before the murder, another murder was gonna take place, until it was prevented by yours truly."

The crowd got riled up again but it barely started when the Judge pounded the gavel "Order! Order!" He turned his attention to Phoenix. "This is new information that this court has not yet heard."

"You're saying that on the night before the murder, Mia Fey was about to murdered?" Edgeworth asked with complete shock.

"Luckily, I got there in time to prevent that murder," Phoenix replied. "The night before the murder when I went in to make the save on Ms. Mia Fey, the real murderer had used The Thinker on me, which left me with severely bruised ribs and a sore nose." Pointing at his face mask Phoenix continued, "Which will explain to you why I'm wearing this."

April cut in "So that means the defendant had attacked you with the statue before making her move on killing that attorney?"

Neither The Judge, Edgeworth, or Wright made a move upon April making that statement; the room itself was pin-drop silent. Until, "OBJECTION! I'm afraid you're wrong about that Ms. April May."

"OBJECTION! Even with these new allegations, do you have any proof that says she's wrong?" Edgeworth cut in.

"Glad you asked that, Mr. Edgeworth." Phoenix pointed at Edgeworth and continued. "Because I actually have concrete proof that not only my client didn't commit that murder, but proves our alibi that we told the police the night she was arrested." Upon his command, Maya had opened his briefcase and pulled out some pieces of paper. "Your honor, I submit to the court, receipts from a Pharmacy, and letters of agreement from my district hospital doctor, and the owner of that pharmacy that they will testify and verify our alibi that on the exact time of the murder, my client was with me all day at the hospital and the pharmacy at the night of the murder."

The Judge and Edgeworth had looked at all three documents for a few seconds before Edgeworth made a decision. "The documents are 100% percent authentic and concrete with Phoenix and Mia's alibi, I see no need to suspect Ms. Fey of murder anymore, Your Honor."

"I quite agree with you, Edgeworth, I see this as grounds for dismissing this portion of the trial," The Judge agreed before proceeding to pound the gavel.

But before that even happened, April cut in tearfully, "Wait, no, pleeeeeeease, nooooooooo."

The entire courtroom now looked at April May, who at this point was bawling her eyes out. Edgeworth and Phoenix looked at her curiously at this change in behavior.

"Miss April May, just what is the matter?" Phoenix asked while his demeanor began to soften up.

"All right, all right, I admit it, I lied," April replied while sobbing "I lied about everything, about the testimony, but I had no other choice."

Even Edgeworth was shocked. "What do you mean by 'no other choice' Miss May?"

"I had no other choice, if I didn't get Ms. Fey the guilty verdict, he...he...he," April really sobbed as she finished. "He would kill me if I didn't!"

The court room was starting to rile up but that got silenced instantly by the gavel being pounded. "Wait a minute, someone forced you to lie?" The Judge asked in complete shock.

"Yes, he said, 'If I find out that Mia Fey hadn't been convicted of murder, it'll be your last breathing day on earth,'" April said between sobs.

"Well even though you did commit perjury in your testimony, if you promise to talk, I'll arrange for your prison sentence to be cut short and we'll get you in Protective Custody," Edgeworth said hoping to provide comfort even though he truly sucked at it.

"If I do talk, can I at least keep it between you and the other two here?" April asked while beginning to calm down.

"If Defense has no objections, we can agree to a confidential meeting in my chambers," The Judge replied

"I have no objections your honor." Phoenix replied.

"With that, court is adjourned. Ms. Mia Fey as of right now you are free to go." The Judge pounded his gavel as the entire court began to stand up and make their leave for the courtroom.

September 9th District Courtroom 11:00 AM

An additional thirty minutes were needed between Wright, Edgeworth, and April May as she began to explain that the person who made the threat at her. She would be placed in protective custody away from her now former boss. While preparing to make their way to exiting the courtroom, Phoenix and Edgeworth were side by side discussing the new details that just unfolded, an argument already began to erupt between Wright and Edgeworth over the latter's rejection on pressing charges.

"I can't believe she didn't even tell you about the threat, Edgeworth," Phoenix said while holding a paper that contained April May's testimony printed at his request.

"I swear to you, she told me everything that happened before the trial, I thought I told her to not leave any details out," Edgeworth replied, his pace of walking showing how foul his mood was.

"But still even with a man like Redd White, Ms. May gave you the proof you needed that is more than enough to charge him with murder, and you still are not willing to do it?" Phoenix asked his mood matching Edgeworth's.

They were at the direction of both Mia and Maya when Edgeworth replied, "Look, Phoenix, you know just as much as anyone that Redd White is a powerful man, any wrongdoing that he has done is just kid games to him."

"That's the reason why he wanted to kill me, Edgeworth." Both men turned at the sound of Mia Fey's voice. "Prior to my old boss being murdered, the last conversation he and I had was him telling me that it was dangerous to go after Redd."

"I know that, Ms. Fey, I still have the transcript to that conversation." Edgeworth replied, clearly frustrated that he practically lost.

"You do, Miles, but I on the other hand have been building evidence against Redd White for several years, and prior to him coming in to try and kill me," Mia and the other three began to walk outside as she continued, "I was going to submit that evidence for a trial against him."

"So that's why you hid your evidence in that statue?" Miles asked

"Yes, I figured if I put the evidence in there, I thought it would go unnoticed by many gave it to my sister," Mia replied while Phoenix pulled up his phone.

"So that would probably explain why this Wiretap was used," Phoenix said while passing phone around to Miles and Mia to show them the little black box with two wires on the end. "Maya and I found this while April went to take care of makeup in the bathroom."

It was Maya who cut in this time "It was because of that wiretap that she was able to listen to our conversation on the phone and how the killer was able to know what the Thinker was being used for."

"Wow, Maya, you were able to figure that out by yourself, I'm so proud of you," Mia said while proceeding to hug her younger sister.

"You'll be even prouder of her when I tell you that she was the one who gave the idea of getting the doctor and the pharmacist to testify to our alibi," Phoenix said while smiling at the younger Fey.

"You're right I am proud of her," Mia replied while absently making the hug tighter.

Just then they heard a clearing of the throat that came south of the foursome's direction. Wright, Edgeworth, and the Fey's turned their direction towards a tall man with Hispanic skin, short crew cut hair, dark brown eyes, and his uniform mostly consisted of a black suit and tie.

"Pardon my intrusion, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation about Redd White," The stranger said in a voice that was reminiscent of Phillip Marlowe.

"We were discussing that," Edgeworth replied. "Is there anything we can help you with?"

"Forgive me for not introducing myself, my name is Daniel Reagan, a private detective," he showed his ID and badge to the four people in front of him. " And if I'm not mistaken, it seems we're after the same objective."

Nick knew what he was talking about. "Redd White?"

Daniel nodded. "Prior to Samuel Rosenberg's murder I've been investigating the actions of Bluecorp and how they connected with some deaths and disappearances of over 300 people for the past nineteen years."

The group was practically floored when they parroted that number back to Daniel. Mia recovered first and said, "Our mother was in the group."

"You're Mia and Maya Fey, right?" Daniel asked upon seeing the sisters.

Both sisters had nodded before Mia asked, "How come you know about us?"

"Upon seeing you two, your faces reminded me of your mother, Misty Fey," Daniel replied while looking at both sisters tensely. "She told me I'd find the both of you here."

Phoenix cut in this time, "Um, before anymore screaming happens, mind if we take this outside?"

"Good idea, Nick, I'm gonna need air after this," Mia replied, and the gang of five walked outside the courtroom building.


	5. Chapter 5

September 9th, Gourd Lake. 7:30 A.M.

A heavy feeling ran through Edgeworth's mind as he walked around Gourd Lake with his hands covering his head as thoughts of yesterday ran through his mind. A lot of things were brought to his attention that he seriously couldn't sleep last night because the details were so graphic and horrible, combined with his refusal to not even take his usual morning jog around the park. But still here he was, in his usual jogging attire of a white t-shirt and shorts, in the lightly pouring down rain with no umbrella. 'Maybe this is what I need, to make myself sick,' Edgeworth thought to himself as he took in the darkness of the early morning rain watching it give an eerie setting around the wide gourd-shaped lake that was responsible for its namesake.

'Why do I do this, why do I become what many in the community defile me for?' Edgeworth asked himself as he took a seat on the bench. 'Why didn't my heart stop me from refusing to help them when the writing was on the wall that I should have?'

He thought back to the confrontation he had last night with Mia Fey, Phoenix Wright, Maya Fey, and Daniel Reagan. They had been back at Fey and Co. Law Offices to hear Daniel share some startling details about Redd White and Bluecorp, and how they practically committed every death-penalty level crime in the book. Daniel himself had just as much evidence to share about Bluecorp as Mia Fey did when she began her vendetta against the company, albeit for her own personal reasons.

For a slight moment, his thoughts were interrupted by the sight of what appeared to be a young mother holding an umbrella with one hand and pushing a baby cart on another hand, making her way towards him via the rain canopy that the park provided for the guests. The mother herself looked beautiful in her silken stands of red hair, blue eyes and a face that could break the hearts of many men if they found the ring on her finger. There was a fair distance between her and Edgeworth as he gave his attention to her picking up the infant from the carriage, the infant himself still looked like a newborn but was thankfully not a fussy one as he got picked up to be fed his breakfast.

Deep inside Edgeworth, he felt his heart go even heavier as he watched this scene, 'Oh my God what have I done?' he asked himself in a silent scream as his mind began to travel back to last night and the confrontation he had had with Mia, Phoenix, and Daniel.

Flashback to Fey and Co. Law Offices September 9th 7:30 P.M.

To say the tension that went around the office was enough to make a baby cry was an understatement, as both Daniel and Mia were finished trading information that they had found over the years regarding Bluecorp and Redd White's involvement in some crimes that could even make a Catholic preacher cringe with shame. Wright, Edgeworth, and Maya had spent a better part of the day after the trial reading over this information so as to get a better understanding of Mia and Daniel's crusade against Bluecorp. Maya in particular had lost her lunch when she came across one of Daniel's reports of how Bluecorp had ties to drugs and illegal firearms, with the worst of their doings being kidnapping children and selling them for sex.

"With crimes like this, you would think that someone would've stood up and made arrests against Bluecorp, don't you think?" Phoenix asked as he poured some coffee.

"Yeah that would be the common sense thing to do, wouldn't it?" Daniel replied as he lit up a cigarette upon Mia's approval.

"But what stopped you from going to INTERPOL and reporting the crime?" Edgeworth asked while Daniel took his first drag.

It was Phoenix who replied, "Shouldn't it be obvious, Edgeworth?" Edgeworth looked at him confusingly before Nick pointed at some of the bruise spots on his still covered body.

"Your body? How would your body be involved in this case?" Edgeworth asked with his attention to Wright.

"Well if you were to go back to the night before the murder, how Redd White initially planned to kill Mia but instead made his attack on me," Nick replied while drinking his coffee. "From checking my body last night, there are still some bruises on my chest and back to tell the tale of how they got on me."

"Initially, while at the hospital, Nick said he wanted to press charges on White but I told him that it was best to wait until I made a way to press charges against him," Mia cut in while getting a cup of coffee herself. "Should consider myself lucky that I saved all the articles that were related to Bluecorp before Redd stole the evidence."

Amongst the crowd, Maya decided to cut in and asked Mia, "Then maybe you can explain to me this note I found at Rosenberg's desk earlier."

"Huh? What note are you talking about?" Phoenix asked while Maya went to her purse and began to pull out the note.

"I found this note before we left for the taxi; it was found under Rosenberg's desk," Maya replied while passing the note around to the entire room.

The contents of that note were of course the same note that Redd White had found after he took the Thinker back to Bluecorp the night when he tried to kill Mia. The reaction around the room was pretty mixed when the note got passed around, each person wearing either a shocked reaction or even an angry reaction, but when Mia got her chance to read that note she spoke, "I didn't write this, Maya."

Phoenix got confused. "What do you mean, you didn't write this? I've read your handwriting before and this has to be your handwriting."

"Phoenix does have a good point, and I just started reading your handwriting on your Bluecorp notes earlier tonight," Miles said with a glare to her.

"But I swear to you, I didn't take the papers out of the Thinker, I left them in because I was in a hurry to get to the courtroom the other day," Mia replied with frustration in her voice.

"How can you be so sure, Sis?" Maya asked her tone being a little gentler. "Usually you leave the door locked whenever there's no one else at the office or otherwise, unless you had another key, Phoenix."

Nick replied with a nod. "You're right about the extra key, but remember, I had the day off and I was out playing cards."

"Never miss a chance to play cards do you, Phoenix?" Miles asked bemusedly while flashing back to their school days.

"Give me a break, Miles, I'm trying to pay for a new car," Nick replied before Daniel, who was finished with reading the note, decided to cut in.

"Actually fellas, Mia is right, she didn't write the note."

The entire room practically shouted, "WHAAAAAAT!?"

Daniel didn't flinch as he continued, "I'm good at reading handwriting and I know this was not hers."

"But her penmanship is so obvious on this note, how can you be so sure it was someone else?" asked Edgeworth with disbelief in his voice.

"Because I met with the person who wrote this, the same person who walked in and replaced the evidence the day before the murder."

Five minutes were full of pin drop silence as the realization sunk in that there could've been only one person who probably could've shared Mia Fey's penmanship, and with tear filled eyes Maya this time spoke, "How cruel a person are you, Danny?"

"Maya, what the hell are you talking about?" Phoenix asked while making a move to hug her when she cried.

"Our mother was declared dead seven years after she disappeared, no one has been able to find her since," rage had filled Maya at this point, "and you mean to tell me that she would just waltz right in and deliberately take the evidence from the Thinker?"

"I know it's a sensitive issue for you, but I swear to you she was the one who wrote the note and met with me to hand over the evidence," Daniel said knowing that this wouldn't change her reaction much.

Miles himself practically went livid and said, "You really expect us to actually believe that someone would come back from the dead and basically make a revenge kill?" Then he looked at Mia and said it, "I should put you back in jail right now."

"Why the fuck are you getting angry at Mia over this!?" yelled Phoenix as he glared at Edgeworth.

"Because this note is evidence enough to have her listed as an accomplice to Rosenberg's murder," Edgeworth replied with a glare of his own.

"You know our alibi checked out when we proved to you that when the murder occurred, she was with me getting my fucking painkillers," said Phoenix in a near yell. "And with April May telling you who the exact murderer was, you're still pinning the blame on Mia for Sam's murder?"

"Technically you can't try me for the same crime out of double jeopardy, and you and I both know that, Edgeworth," Mia said before Edgeworth began to leave for the door.

Before walking out the room, Edgeworth turned to face them and said, "True, but I also still have my right as a Prosecutor to not press charges."

Phoenix however wouldn't have it as he angrily followed Edgeworth to the hallway and forcefully turned him around. "We have a lot of dead people by suicide and little children out there who are practically being used as sex toys by Bluecorp, and you're just gonna walk out on this?"

"Please, after Maya showing the note and with Mia and Daniel denying that she wrote it, you'd think I'd believe that Bluecorp got involved with all those crimes?" Edgeworth replied while returning to his cold demeanor, "To think I almost trusted you guys with helping me bring down a big criminal."

"HELLO! Redd White is the biggest criminal out there right now and almost every newspaper has connected him to every major suicide, blackmail, and his crimes against children." Phoenix this time yelled loud enough for the entire building to hear, "WASN'T IT YOU THAT HAD SUCH A PASSIONATE HATE FOR CRIMINALS?! THIS CRIMINAL IS PROBABLY YOUR BIGGEST CATCH!"

"YOU'RE GOD DAMN RIGHT I HAVE A PASSIONATE HATE FOR CRIMINALS!" Edgeworth returned with a yell of his own. "BUT I ALSO HAVE A JUST AS PASSIONATE HATE FOR LIARS AND THE WAY I SEE IT, MIA WAS LYING ABOUT NOT KILLING ROSENBURG! I CANNOT TRY HER FOR THE SAME CRIME, BUT I CAN REFUSE TO HELP HER AND I DON'T CARE WHAT FACTS ARE THERE, I'D MUCH RATHER HAVE A KILLER GO FREE THAN TO DEAL WITH A LIAR!"

Phoenix grabbed Miles by the throat, pinned him on the wall, and lowered his voice to where only he can hear it, "And if there's one thing I really can't stand either, is people who have the mindset of a Republican, and that was exactly what you just proved to me when you said that. Believe it or not, after you left my elementary school a long time ago, I had been reading about your father while I was studying to become an attorney, and I'm more than certain that he's rolling in his fucking grave right now."

Edgeworth in a fit of rage balled his right fist and punched Phoenix on his still bruised ribs, which of course caused him to let go of Edgeworth as he went to fall on the floor. Before he finally went to walk out, Edgeworth grabbed Wright by the shirt and angrily whispered, "Don't you ever talk about my father like that again, do you understand?" He finally exited Fey and Co. Law Offices without waiting for an answer.

Back to the Present

"Sir are you okay?" a female voice began to phase Edgeworth out of his flashback.

He snapped his attention to the same red haired woman who was still holding her now fed son, and began to shake his head and let out a little cough as he was brought back to reality.

"Oh good you're still alive, I was wondering if you were dead after you kept staring at me," she said while he did his actions.

"Oh was I staring at you?" Edgeworth asked apologetically "Sorry about that, my mind was on something else while I was staring at you."

"No it's okay, I've kinda already gotten used to it, especially after giving birth to this little guy." She gave a kiss on the little infant's forehead.

The next few minutes were between Edgeworth and the mother talking about themselves, as they walked along the park with the rain long since stopped. It still felt very cold and gray, but it was the perfect environment for what still ran through Edgeworth's mind, which was warming up thanks to the angelic personality the woman was providing for him. To the woman, Edgeworth had a pretty good career to work with compared to her being the housewife of a faithful husband who worked as a manager at a Best Buy. To Edgeworth, the fact that she and her husband were having a stable life was more than enough to be envious towards her, which in turn caused her to giggle some. Both of them were about to reach the parking lot outside of Gourd Lake where their respective cars were at, which both were coincidentally parked side by side each other, and that's when it happened.

Thank God neither party were directly inside their cars when it did happen, but not five steps did they walk in that direction when 'BOOOOOM' came the loud explosion from Edgeworth's car followed by another explosion from the car that belonged to the lady with the infant. Reactions were instantaneous as both the woman and the child began to bawl in reaction to the scene; Edgeworth on the other hand was in a shock as he gazed at the fiery scene that came out of both cars, ignorant of their cries. But then he realized something, he had a good idea of who was behind the planting of that car bomb, so he reached in his shorts pocket for his phone and watch and proceeded to throw them in the flames of his car.

"What are you doing?" the lady asked while he did so.

"My car was rigged with explosives behind my back, so someone wanted me dead," Edgeworth then looked at her and said, "I know it's gonna sound crazy but if you have a phone or a watch throw it in your car."

"Why would I need to do that?" she asked

"Because the people that rigged my car can also track my phone and I'm pretty sure they'll track yours too; if you get rid of your phone it'll give them the illusion that you're dead."

The fact that Edgeworth was a man who took his job seriously was enough for her to trust him and follow his command. Edgeworth volunteered to grab the baby as they ran away from the scene of the explosion with the intent of finding a pay-phone. What they got instead when they began to leave was a black Ford Mustang making a stop towards the three and the driver began to open the window.

"Get in guys, I'll get you out of here," said the voice of Daniel Reagan as his face appeared out of the open window.

Edgeworth would later make arrangements to both the woman and her husband about paying for a new car, a new phone, and new baby items out of apology.

September 10 Bluecorp Offices 12:30 P.M.

It was end of Redd White's scheduled lunch time as he took an elevator to re-enter his office. So far to his mind, it seemed like a perfect day for him. He had just finished lunch with some people who were carrying out a few favors for him and both him and their view, they carried out that favor flawlessly. During the elevator ride to his office, Redd's mind was thinking back to what had been happening the past few days when this whole fiasco started, the trial specifically. One of his eyes had been notified of April May's failure to bring Mia Fey to the execution line with her testimonies, but what he didn't count on, was that certain attorney that he abused, to serve both Edgeworth and the Judge Mia Fey's 'Get out of Jail Free Card' via those Pharmacy Receipts. So upon finding out that not only did that porcupine attorney provide the evidence to get Mia out of jail, but that Edgeworth was rumored to about to be working with that attorney to bring Redd down, he made a few phone calls to those people who he just had lunch with to deal with the problem.

Right now there was no reason for him to be angry anymore as he got out of the elevator and walked to the direction of the desk that once belonged to April May, now cleaned out to its bare self, a foregone conclusion that neither party knew she would never be back. 'It won't take me long to get a new secretary though, maybe get someone a little more pre-pubescent,' he thought to himself as he opened his office door. To his greatest horror, he walked into see a certain man who he thought more than anything to have been dead. But he saw him sitting on the chair behind his gold painted crafted desk, this time in his usual dark red suit, with the black vest/boots and white buttoned-up shirt with the dinner napkin collar.

"How did your lunch go?" Edgeworth asked after Redd walked in the door and reveled in his horror and continued, "Scary, isn't it?"

Redd felt too speechless to answer both questions and was practically in a tremble when Edgeworth said, "You see Rosenberg? He's wandering around here somewhere."

Miles nearly coughed out a chuckle when Redd White began to drop his suitcase out of fear that he may have meant every word he said, "I'm kidding, White, lighten up, it's not like you to be so scared out of your wits."

Upon taking Edgeworth's advice, Redd decided to speak up. "Miles Edgeworth, my boy, how have you been doing? It's been awhile since I've seen you."

"It has been hasn't it?" Edgeworth replied as he walked up to Redd's direction. "Like during the annual Christmas party that you would invite people from all sectors of the law to attend to, if I recall."

"I still plan to headline this year's party if you want to join me; we're thinking about honoring you with an award that day," Redd picked up his suitcase and walked over to his desk which housed the wine cooler. "Not often do I have a guest come into my office with my busy schedule and all, but would you like a drink?"

"No thank you, White, you know full well that I don't drink," Miles replied while Redd poured himself a glass of wine. "But to answer your question on how I've been doing, you can say I've been busy with a lot of cases."

"Oh I'm sure you have been, Edgeworth. I heard that you lost to a rookie attorney."

"I wouldn't call it a loss, more like a dismissal due to lack of evidence," Miles took out what looked like a red folder. "But during that time, I've been doing some reading, which as a prosecutor you don't do very often."

"Really?" Redd said with intrigue. "What exactly have you been reading?"

"A very enticing memorandum about a company funneling money to a combination of drug lords and child sex rings," Miles said with a smirk as Redd had to spit his wine out and let out a cough at that sentence. "An oldie but a goodie if I may say so myself."

"Are you gonna need a doctor for that cough, Mr. White?" Miles asked with a near chuckling smirk.

"I don't know what joke you're trying to pull on me, Edgeworth," Redd said while trying to recover.

"What joke are you talking about?"

"Those types of operations are against the standards of Bluecorp, you have nothing to prove with those documents."

"Oh really?" Edgeworth faked shock. "I must've gotten the company wrong, I didn't realize that a different Redd White was the one who wrote those checks, it's a drag I got documents dating all the way back to 2001, what am I going to do with them."

Redd proceeded to reach the phone. "Are you asking me to call your Chief Prosecutor?"

"Oh I would insist you'd do so, let her know how you knew that Samuel Rosenberg was calling Mia Fey, or better yet let's find out who tapped her phone when she called her sister," Miles said with a glare to Redd.

Not once had Redd ever got intimidated in his career but he lightly flinched over Edgeworth's glare as he said "Even if those documents are authentic, I doubt you could prove how they would link me to Mia Fey and Samuel Rosenberg."

Miles wouldn't have it. "Maybe not, but I still got April May in protective custody and I can let her walk free when she testifies that you killed Rosenberg, had planned to kill Mia Fey, and had tapped those phones."

"This conversation is over, Edgeworth."

Edgeworth raised his voice at this point."I AM NOT A MAN THAT YOU KILL, I'M A MAN THAT BELONGS TO A PART OF LAW ENFORCEMENT THAT YOU BRIBE, ARE YOU REALLY THAT FUCKING STUPID THAT YOU DON'T SEE WHAT I AM, I COULD'VE BEEN THE EASIEST PART OF THIS GOD DAMN MURDER CASE AND YOU'RE GONNA KILL ME?!"

"Hey will you be quiet, practically everyone in the building heard you scream," Redd said hoping to cool things down. "Maybe we can cut a deal that can make it all go away."

"A deal, huh?" Edgeworth lowered his voice grudgingly. "Okay let's talk about deals, what do you want? An asylum at a foreign country or a heads up on a drug lord being tried in court? I tried to put Mia Fey in the execution line for five hundred grand from your own personal wallet and you're trying to kill me?"

"No, it's not what I want, it's more about what you want," Redd replied with a flinch. "Is there at least a number to it?"

"25 would be the number I'm thinking about."

"25? 25 what?" Redd's skin really whitened at the realization "Where the hell do you think I'm gonna get 25 Million dollars?"

"You know what's even better about this memo, if you remember who signed it at the bottom, it'd be a shame for to have us go to Chief Damon Gant and see if the police department wants to continue funding to Bluecorp's charities for adoption."

What Edgeworth had just said put the final nail on the coffin for Redd White's plan for a negotiation with him; he knew now that there was no other choice but to agree with paying off Edgeworth. "I promise you that you will receive the money in a personal offshore account first thing tomorrow morning."

Edgeworth began to let out a big laugh which led to Redd thinking that Edgeworth was really pulling his leg, for fifteen straight minutes there was nothing but laughter from both Redd and Edgeworth until the latter calmed down like a snap of a twig and said with an evil smile, "You're really fucked now."

"What?" Redd slowed down his laugh as he replied.

"I said, you're fucked," Edgeworth repeated as Gumshoe and Daniel Reagan appeared from the door with some people in police uniform as they approached Redd White and arrested him.

"You planned it this the whole time?" Redd asked while taking in the shock of him being arrested.

"I told you before, White, you don't ever fuck with a guy like me. I have a hatred for criminals, liars, and traitors and now you are gonna pay," Miles got up close and looked at him with a sinister whisper before looking at Gumshoe. "Tell him the charge and read him his rights, I'll expect him in court first thing tomorrow morning."

"Yes sir," Gumshoe replied as he proceeded to do what was ordered of him.

Walking over to Daniel Reagan, Edgeworth gave him back the phone that belonged to the Private Investigator. "Did you get every word of that conversation?"

"Every word of it, clear and crystal," he replied he took the phone from Edgeworth's hands. "You okay?"

"Yeah I am, I just need to get some air and I really need to get myself a new phone," Edgeworth replied while getting his overcoat on. "I expect both Phoenix Wright and Mia Fey in court tomorrow to give their testimony about Redd's actions the day before the murder."

"Don't worry, I'll let them know, and we'll see you in court tomorrow okay?" Danny replied as Edgeworth began to make his exit from the building.


	6. Chapter 6

Standard Disclaimers Apply

September 11th Rosenberg Law Offices 9:00 P.M.

The intensity of what went on during the entire day had been very toiling on Mia Fey and the entire crew, as everyone was in the room was thinking about the trial and how pretty tense it turned out to be. Sure Edgeworth had a pretty solid case against Redd White and Bluecorp, but the Defense Team had such strong counter-arguments against Edgeworth and his witnesses. But with every move on a chess board, always came that one fatal move that can deliver the checkmate, which ultimately befell among Mia Fey when she outed a list of names that either had the occupation of an actor, actress, lawyer and politician. She also delivered the final blow to this trial with a warning that if Redd didn't confess to the murder of Rosenberg the list would be read out loud to the press. The rest, they say, was history.

Or at least history that was waiting for a final chapter to be written, which was about to happen as Phoenix Wright, Mia Fey and Maya Fey were greeted by the arrival of another lawyer, who had some documents hidden well in a briefcase. The last will and testament of Samuel Rosenberg was about to be read tonight. Rosenberg's lawyer laid his briefcase down and proceeded to open it to take out what turned out to be a manila folder that contained a death certificate and the will that he was about to read.

Thirty minutes later, Phoenix, Mia and Maya were a little shocked at what was just read by the lawyer. It turned out Rosenberg left the entire building that housed his law firm, the entire library of his law books, and over seventeen-million dollars cash all to Mia Fey. They couldn't help but ask that attorney to verify if the will was true, and he confirmed the validity of the will by way of some cassette tape conversations that were held between him and Rosenberg

It was agreed upon both Phoenix, Maya, and Rosenberg's lawyer that they would leave Mia to her thoughts and give her time to sink this in. So here was Mia Fey kneeling in prayer about to make contact with the dead in pure Fey family fashion; she needed to make contact with Rosenberg to hopefully learn of why he actually put her in his will. She also needed to make peace with him and send him into the afterlife without any more suffering. Another thirty minutes had passed as Mia took the necessary steps in contacting with the dead that had been concrete standards with her family and not once have failed. The result of it took form of the same overweight man with his dark orange suit, dark hair and beard combination with the granny glasses. His eyes however wore a sign of genuine regret for the events that unfolded as Mia began to speak.

"My dearly departed mentor, I come in contact with you, to hopefully reconcile with you and bring your soul to peace," Mia said in soothing voice where no one but the both of them could hear it, even with the entire building being empty.

Rosenberg's voice was along that same tone. "Yes, my dear, and I know you also want to discuss why I left everything to you in my will." Upon seeing Mia gently nodding her head he continued, "There is no denying that I have done a huge wrong to you and your family with my role in making your mother disappear. But still you have to admit that, prior to you finding that out and even after, I always looked at you as the daughter I never had due to me being a widower at such a young age."

"Now that you mention, Sam, I do remember you and I having a talk about how you were left a widower with no children; you never did remarry again did you?" Mia asked.

"No I never did, but every time I looked at you, I always saw her in you, even though you weren't my blood." He looked like a ghost in every description of the term he still reached out to touch her shoulder. "I will also admit even prior to my death I would not have blamed you for never even speaking to me again, and I still would've kept you in my will even if I had died a natural death."

"If that be the case, Rosenberg, then I also offer you my forgiveness by way of a quote from Shakespeare 'If I do sweat/they are the drops of thy lovers/and they weep for thy death/therefore rouse up fear and trembling/and do observance to my mercy.'"

"Ah King Henry IV," Rosenberg replied "I've always been so fascinated with that play. In that case I want to leave you with another Shakespeare quote: 'I love you more than words can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty.' King Lear I believe, and I mean every word of it. Even though you once hated me, I never stopped loving you as a daughter and I never will. That's why I want you to run the law firm in my place, to have my money and to have my house even if you want to sell it, it's all yours for the taking and I want you to run it the way you'd run your own office...I must now leave you to carry my legacy and I hope to see you again someday."

Throughout him speaking, he slowly began to depart to a glowing white light and after a while he was finally gone and ready to enter the afterlife in peace. Mia was again left all alone in her thoughts as she began to weep, fifteen years of pain was finally beginning to exit her system as she began to cry herself to sleep in her boss's old office.

September 11th, 10:00 P.M. Maya Fey's Apartment Front Door

The cab ride towards her apartment was pretty silent. Not much was said between Maya and Phoenix as their minds were still heavy with not only the entire murder case per say, but what was going through both their minds as they thought about each other and how they got to know each other through the most unconventional way possible. In a way guilt ran through them on how near death and the eventual death of Mia's old mentor and her arrest was how they were able to meet and get to really know each other.

For three days of this murder case, the way they talked with each other and how they described their back stories, was enough to build such a warm attraction between the two. But up until this point, neither of them had really said anything about it until Maya spoke, "I owe you a lot for saving my sister, not once, but twice now."

"I know you do, Maya, but you really don't have to," Phoenix replied in a gentle tone "All I was doing was just helping out a friend who saved my own life a long time ago."

"That's also what I wanna talk to you about, Nick," Maya replied while getting closer so only he could hear her voice getting softer "Your humbleness, determination, passion and your kindness, it's made me feel things about you that I've never felt about anyone else."

"What do you feel, exac..." He didn't finish his sentence as his lips got covered by the velvet feel of one Maya Fey; he didn't reject her, he just closed his eyes and went with the flow of her kiss. Her action made him realize how the feelings were so mutual and organic, it was almost love at first sight and he enjoyed this kiss, savored it, hell he worshiped it like a Goddess.

But for now, he had to be realistic about something and he began to mention it upon breaking the kiss "As mutual as my feelings are for you, I still hurt right now and I don't want this moment to be ruined by bruised ribs."

Maya ironically didn't complain, instead she kept her gentle smile as she took Nick by the hand and said, "I can wait for you, for forever if I have to, but can you stay with me for tonight and keep me warm at least?"

"Can I at least get my painkillers and some sleeping clothes? I'll be back for you before too long, I promise." And Nick didn't break that promise that night as he and Maya would spend the night in a cuddling bliss.

Start of Case 3: Turnabout Samurai

"Grrah!" cried a figure who had an alliance with evil. "You have disgraced me for the last time, Steel Samurai!"

In the middle of an empty Japanese field set in a futuristic world, stood two figures in very unique costumes that defined their characteristics. One of them in particular wore a steel gray armored suit, tubes on his back, and a mask that carried an expressionless face, black balding hair and a stuck up ponytail on the top half of his body. The bottom-half contained a red hakama that actually held perfectly well in place. His weapon of choice was a long red spear. That entire uniform belonged to that of his namesake, The Steel Samurai, about to face another battle with his mortal nemesis who was pointing at the full moon. The nemesis known as the Evil Magistrate wore dark blue armor with a skeleton belt buckle, gold trim on both his arm areas, triangular shoulder blades, a dark purple cape that cascaded his back, and a white mask that carried a Satan's Horn hairdo, Japanese stick up ponytail, red paint on the face, and a Fu-Man Chu beard and mustache combination

"The pale moon in the sky...it cries for your blood!"

"The moon?" the Samurai replied "No, it is you who should gaze upon the moon...for it shall be the last moon you will ever see. See you in hell, Evil Magistrate."

At that point both the Steel Samurai and the Evil Magistrate drew their weapons and began what could possibly be the final battle for both of them. The action was so fast paced no one knew who had the real advantage until finally someone delivered a blood curdling scream and the television screen went black and the voice of the shows announcer began to come in "One has fallen...but who? Only the moon knows! Don't miss next week's exciting episode: The Dark Messenger Returns!"

October 14, 2016 5:31 PM The Law Offices of Fey and Wright

In a building that was once occupied by the late Samuel Rosenberg, Maya Fey was sitting on the couch of Phoenix Wright's personal office watching the action unfold between the Steel Samurai and the Evil Magistrate with unleashed enthusiasm, thanks to the television in his office.

"That rocked!" Maya screamed like a Heavy Metal fan girl. "See you in Hell, Evil Magistrate!"

"Maya, think you can keep your voice down, I'm trying to make a phone call here!" Phoenix returned with a scream of his own while he had a phone in his hand.

"Sorry, Nick, I thought you were already done with your phone calls," she replied while looking at his direction.

"I was until that person had to give me another number to dial, hold on I'm getting some rings," Nick said while waiting for the person to pick up, but it turned out to be unsuccessful after picking up an answering machine message.

After leaving a description of the call along with his name and number, Phoenix hung up the phone and looked at Maya still glued to the TV. "What was that bizarre show you were watching?"

To Maya, you'd think Nick had asked a stupidly simple question like 'What color was the sky?' when she replied, "You mean you don't know the Steel Samurai!?"

"No, he really doesn't, would you like to enlighten him and try to keep your voice down while doing it?" Mia came in and asked in a polite motherly tone.

"Oh, come on sis, how can he not know of the most popular TV show in the country for young people?" Maya asked in a light complaint.

"Like how young, exactly?" Nick asked.

Mia decided to cut in with her own reply. "Last time I checked, Nick, the shows highest demographics were around the ten to fifteen year old age group."

"And how old is your sister again? Seventeen or thirteen?"

"Hey, I might look a little too young to be seventeen, but what's wrong with being a kid at heart, Nick?"

"Well, being obnoxious about it is one thing, but having an overactive imagination is an even bigger thing," Nick replied with a light hearted smirk.

"Gramps." Maya stuck her tongue out in retaliation.

"Okay, kids, if you're done with your spat, let's say we call it a day and close up the office?" Mia asked with a light-hearted chuckle.

"Speaking of which, Mia, any luck on your end in terms of phone calls?" Nick asked as he grabbed his brown overcoat.

"Matter of fact, Nick, I did have luck and I'm gonna be meeting with her first thing tomorrow, so I'm gonna be a little late to the office," Mia replied while getting her overcoat and purse.

"Wow, that's a relief, we finally have a chance to actually get rid of that old office," Nick replied while holding the door open for the ladies to exit out first.

"Gotta say, Nick, you sure you're not gonna miss that office?" Maya asked curiously.

"It's not a matter of us missing it, sis," Mia replied in comforting tone. "It's just that after what we went through last month it's more a matter of therapy to put our old office in the history books of our past."

In the weeks following the Samuel Rosenberg murder trial, it became a talk of not only the Los Angeles area, but also the whole nation. It turned out that the list of names that Mia Fey had compiled were names of A-List Actors, respected Attorneys, and even Politicians that were well liked among some people caused a huge enough fury amongst the nation to actually petition the Los Angeles Country D.A.'s Office to put Redd White to death by lethal injection. Given the severity of Bluecorp's entire crime list, Prosecution was quick to successfully execute Redd White by that method. The Federal Government itself was also quick to dissolve Bluecorp of any and all assets it had over the years, which combined in a total of over fifteen billion dollars. The money was split between the families of the deceased people on that list. The Fey sisters themselves had received over twenty-two million dollars of that split, which they in turn decided to keep in their bank account.

During that time, Phoenix Wright and Mia Fey's work behind that case built enough buzz for people to actually call them and request their services in subjects that neither of them were able to practice in because they weren't criminal defense cases. They weren't ready to take in murder cases yet either, because both of them were too busy converting Rosenberg Law Offices into the Law Offices of Fey and Wright; Mia had felt such pride in how well Phoenix had carried himself in the Rosenberg trial that she firmly insisted on him becoming a senior partner, even though he was very reluctant about it.

Now here they were putting the finishing touches of their new life together, all they needed to do now was sell the old Fey and Co Law Offices building. They sold off Rosenberg's old house, donated his law books to the local Law Academy, and Phoenix Wright became the new owner of the last car Rosenberg bought before he died, a 2015 Mercedes-Benz.

"Think of it this way. After we're all said and done with the selling, we can really start taking in cases," Mia said as the both were in the parking garage about to get into their respective cars.

"Hope you're right Mia, just think of the noise we'd make just by working together as a team?" Phoenix said with a smile.

Maya gave out a light chuckle and said, "Think criminals are afraid of Edgeworth? They haven't feared anything until they know of The Law Offices of Fey and Wright."

"I wouldn't get too cocky, Sis, we don't have that much a reputation that can put Edgeworth to shame," Mia said after Maya cheerfully got into the passenger seat of her car. "If you can Nick, pick up Maya tomorrow morning on your way to work please."

"Will do, Chief, be seeing you tomorrow," Phoenix got into his own car. Technically he didn't need to call her that anymore, but he did it out of friendship and love.

October 15th, 2:30 PM Global Studios #2

A day as clear and beautiful as this shouldn't be an excuse for blood, but death knew no weather, age, or season. That's what went through the mind of Mia Fey as she found herself in the middle of Studio 2 and clearly not taking in the nice weather either. What really focused on her mind was her seeing an altercation between what looked like a man in a Steel Samurai costume and a beautiful woman in her early thirties, short black hair covered in a black veil clipped by a gold butterfly necklace, earrings of the same color, and a sleeveless black dress and glove combination that over laid a black body-stocking that covered her shoulders and cleavage.

Mia kept her attention firmly on this altercation taking place as both the Steel Samurai and this mysterious beauty were on the footsteps of this very old looking trailer in a bitter struggle, that from the looks of things seemed to turn in the Samurai's favor, but out of whatever you call it, her luck or his horror, the Steel Samurai had tripped over the trailer porch and landed chest first on a steel spike that belonged to a tiny flower bed.

An image so gruesome that Mia had to look away. But while looking away she came across a boy around age 8 wearing nothing but Steel Samurai fan boy gear and holding a digital camera in both hands but so traumatized with fear to even take a picture and looked like he was about to be running away.

October 15th 12:30 A.M. Mia Fey's apartment

She felt so sick to her stomach that she literally jogged herself to the bathroom to let out what she had for dinner because of how the gruesome scene felt. Taking care of that business, she took herself to the sink next to the toilet to wash out the remnants while taking time to look at herself in the mirror, dressed in a lacy black bra and panties match combined with the physique that she carried, her mind was on everything but herself as she began to speak.

"This is the second time I've had this type of dream, what the hell is wrong with me?" In fact not since that daydream she had during the Bluecorp incident had this ever happened and she at first thought it wouldn't happen again.

However, it did happen again, but unlike her death scene, there was no way she was going to stop this one, she conceded to herself as she opened the medicine cabinet to take out some sleeping pills. There have been a few moments in the past where she actually had to take sleeping pills to cure her early morning insomnia attacks and this obviously was one of them. Nothing she could do now but be rested and ready for that real estate agent to show up at the old Fey and Co. building. In about five short minutes the pills began to do their work as she fell into more peaceful sleep.

October 16, 8:14 AM Phoenix Wright's Apartment

The joys of having your law firm open at 10 in the morning and sleeping in when you want to, or in Phoenix's case, being an early riser and oversleeping. Something he hadn't meant to do until his smartphone rang up next to his bed, groggily he picked up the phone without checking caller id and asked "Hello? Phoenix Wright here."

"Nick, I'm sorry to wake you but this is important," came the sobering voice of Maya on the other end.

Hearing Maya this sad was enough to wake him up "You don't sound like your normal cheerful self, Maya, there's something up."

"I'm sorry, Nick, but I just got news the guy who played the Steel Samurai got arrested for killing the actor who played the Evil Magistrate," Maya had managed to say before finally beginning to cry.

For his girlfriend to actually cry the way she was doing was enough to break his heart. He would hug her if he could, but obviously he couldn't right now. Instead he decided to say, "Listen, sweetie, go ahead and let out your tears while I get ready to pick you up, and we'll discuss this over at the office. I'll be there in a bit."

"Thank you, Nick, I'm sure I'll be calm enough when you get here...bye," with that Maya hung up leaving Nick alone to take care of his personal business.

The fact that Maya was emotionally shaken while on the phone was more than enough for Phoenix to think that she wasn't lying, so it was out of his own curiosity that he reached for the remote of his television and turned it on to the local CBS channel where they were airing This Morning with Charlie Rose, Gayle King, and Norah O'Donnell. Sure enough, they were talking about the arrest of the Steel Samurai who turned out to be played by a man named Robert Powers while the Evil Magistrate turned out to be played by Bill Hammer.

'Bill Hammer, I knew that name once before,' Phoenix thought to himself before really looking back at his memory and realizing 'Oh my God, you gotta be fucking kidding me, NOT THAT BILL HAMMER!'

Oh, he knew about Bill Hammer alright, that same Hammer who once upon a time had been the biggest name in the Action movie genre of Hollywood. There was no way that the same Bill Hammer would just flat out give up what looked to be an illustrious career of movies that actually received a lot praise from both fans and critics, and demote himself to playing the villain of a popular kid show. While the news continued to play in the background, Wright had been busy with getting dressed in his usual blue suit and his phone began to ring just as he was getting his dress shoes on.

"Mia, did you hear just what happened on the news?" he greeted after picking the phone and reading her name on the caller ID.

"I'm way ahead of you, Phoenix," Mia said on the other line before continuing "I just got off the phone with Mr. Powers himself; he's requested us to represent him in court."

"Well who did he specifically request for, you or me?" Phoenix asked while picking up his badge.

"He preferred both of us, but I told him that I was going to be busy and would have you visit him in my stead," Mia replied while thinking of Maya. "I know it's gonna be hard on her especially, but after you pick Maya up head straight for the Detention Center and talk to him about this."

"As if she wasn't already sobbing about this, but okay Chief, I'm gonna be heading over to her place now to pick her up. I'll talk to you later." And with that Phoenix hung up the phone, grabbed his brown overcoat and headed for his car.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: from this chapter on to the rest of my rewrites of the games, I will be introducing a new character that will be heavily related to the Dick Wolf Productions, NBC/Universal Franchise Law and Order. Again I make no profit out of either Ace Attorney or Law and Order. Just read and hopefully many of you will find out why Law and Order is in this.

October 16, 2016 9:30 A.M. Detention Center

If Maya Fey hadn't have been so broken over the arrest of Robert Powers, she would've cried harder over the prospect of the new law firm losing their first case. But instead, she was nothing but quiet during the car ride with Phoenix Wright to the detention center. That same quiet had surrounded them while they were waiting for the arrival of their new client.

If Maya could read minds, the surprise on her would be a huge understatement if she ever found out that Phoenix was thinking the same thing. Such a high profile client to take on a recently birthed Law Firm with two still rookie attorneys being senior partners, one screw up would feel like a gun on Phoenix if he didn't get enough adequate information to prove his client didn't kill Bill Hammer.

So entered Robert Powers who was dressed the same way he was on the day of the murder, orange sports jacket and pants set with a white muscle shirt that laid underneath. He carried a handkerchief, which carried the explanation of his eyes becoming red from crying. He started to take his seat across from Phoenix and Maya on the Plexiglas fence that separated both parties as Phoenix began to break the ice.

"Good morning, Mr Powers, I'm Phoenix Wright of Fey and Wright, I understand that you requested our services to represent you in Court tomorrow?"

"I did, Mr. Wright, but I'm surprised that your senior partner is younger than what she looks," Rob replied.

"No that's Maya Fey, Robert," Phoenix had to spell out both names to know the difference. "Mia had to take care of some professional matters and asked me to talk to you in my stead. Don't worry, my partner can catch on to cases pretty quick. By the way, at her age, Maya is a huge fan of your show."

"Wouldn't blame her if she were to be disappointed in me." Robert began to form tears of sadness after thinking about the rest of the fan-base. "After I got the part of the Steel Samurai, I decided I would never show my face in public until the job was over and I could move into bigger projects. I kept myself hidden to not hurt the children. But now I think I've gone so far as to wreck their dreams."

"Listen, I understand that you're a little stressed, Mr. Powers\; we've been in your position before." Maya decided to throw away the fan-girl side and get serious on this issue. "But if you want us to help you, you gotta be as truthful as you can when we ask you questions."

Phoenix was beyond floored at Maya's change in demeanor; just yesterday she was enthusiastically yelling at his office TV cheering for the Steel Samurai. Now here she was in her business suit and exhibiting nothing but professionalism towards their client. "Nick, don't you have any questions?" she asked while poking his cheek.

"Oh excuse me, I'm still a little tired," Phoenix replied while letting out a yawn that was surprisingly realistic "Anyway, Mr. Powers, can you tell us what happened during the day of the murder?"

"Well yesterday morning at ten AM, I was doing a scene run through of some action sequences between the Steel Samurai and the Evil Magistrate. Around five in the afternoon, we were supposed to be at Studio 1 for rehearsal, thing was when five PM came around everyone was gathered around the Evil Magistrate who was laying crumpled on the floor and when they took off his mask, he was dead."

"By 'he,' you mean Bill Hammer, right?" Phoenix asked and after Robert nodded he continued "On the day of the murder where were you in particular?"

"From nine AM until Noon, we were doing an action scene run through. Rehearsal was supposed to begin at five that afternoon but I was a little tired and took a nap. When I finally woke up it was a little after five, but I was still late," Robert replied.

"And they arrested you as soon as you arrived I take it?" Phoenix asked. Robert nodded in confirmation. "Well, what we're gonna do is check out the crime scene ourselves to get a look, and we'll talk to some alleged witnesses while we're at it." Phoenix and Maya began to get up before Robert interrupted:

"Wait, aren't you gonna need directions to Global Studios? I can draw you a map if you want."

"No, Mr. Powers, but now that you mention it we at least need both an address to there and a letter of representation to let them know I'm your lawyer," Phoenix replied while taking their seat again and waited for Robert to comply with that request. They would soon leave after both things were done.

October 16th Global Studios Main Gate

Compared to other movie studios in the Los Angeles County area, Global Studios was a tiny studio from a distance, but even then it did bring a majestic feeling that you're in an actual studio that makes television shows. For Maya Fey, she felt a like a kid at Disneyland when she and Phoenix had parked his car at an empty parking slot that was still filled with police cars from the local precinct of Los Angeles. One of them in particular had belonged to Daniel Reagan, the same black Ford Mustang that had been used to rescue Miles Edgeworth during the Bluecorp incident.

"Still can't believe that Edgeworth had agreed to transfer Gumshoe to another precinct after Reagan returned to being a Homicide Detective," Phoenix said to Maya after getting out of his car.

"Well if you remember what he told us, he did use to be a detective for this precinct before the infamous DL-6 Incident," Maya replied while she and Nick began to walk to the Front Gate that was ironically wide open.

"I know, Maya, but I still can't believe it," Nick replied while reaching for his sunglasses "I was hoping that we could use his services as a Private Dick for our law firm because you know getting into crime scenes as a Defense Attorney is technically not allowed here."

"Personally I'm not worried, Nick. I'm sure Daniel knew of us coming here and let the people know about it," Maya replied before being rudely stopped by a person who yelled at them like a bull horn being blared.

"HEY! YOU THERE!" That voice belonged to a woman in her mid-fifties who carried a physique of a bodybuilder in her low-forties in a police uniform, short red hair that cut to her neck with blue eyes that almost looked like ice shards. "You want in, you gotta go through me!"

"See what I mean by lawyers getting into crime scenes, Maya" Phoenix said out loud and was about to explain his business to the lady in front of them until suddenly.

"Oh yeah? Well that's great. I'm security!" the lady said in heavy sarcasm. "And it's my job to make sure that gawkers like you stay OUT."

"Hey who the hell are you calling a gawker!?" Maya exclaimed with annoyance.

"Gawkers! Sightseers! Tourists! I know the type. You heard about the incident and came to snoop around. Youths today! Something horrible happens and all you can think of is sightseeing. Wasting your time at a place like this. Don't you have jobs you should be doing? Or do lawyers not work like the rest of us? Maybe I should become a lawyer too. Sounds like a life of ease to me no work just loafing around all day as you please. Well when I was young things were a mite different, mind you we didn't prance around in strange hippie clothes. What are the youths coming to these days my own son hasn't called in..."

Just then a familiar voice to both Wright and Maya called out "Hey Pennock, think you wanna shut the fuck up and let those two in, I was expecting them to come in like 15 minutes ago!"

Pennock complied with that command after turning her head to see the familiar figure of Daniel Reagan along with a much younger man who appeared to be his partner of the badge.

"Jesus Christ, Linda you sound like an old Chinese restaurant manager screaming at the cook over tainted shrimp," came the remark of Reagan's partner.

"Anyway if you must know, those two people in front of you are part of Robert Powers' legal counsel and they came here to look into the crime," Daniel said while taking an opportunity to shake Maya and Nick's hands.

"Is that so, detective?" Linda asked while still keeping a firm eye on the two. "Do you have any proof of such?"

"Well I was gonna show it to you, until you had to run your mouth like how that guy said." Phoenix was referring to the Detective who made the Chinese restaurant comment. He showed Pennock the letter of representation that Robert wrote earlier.

After taking a few seconds to read it, the woman said, "Yes, yes, I can recognize that handwriting anywhere. Alright Danny, they are your problem now."

"Thank you, Pennock. Now, Maya and Nick, if you'll come with me please," Danny said while taking the lead with his partner and the two lovebirds behind them.

"What the hell is with that lady?" Maya asked after getting a far enough distance from the security station. "You would think she had never seen a show about defense attorneys before."

"Oh I'm sure she has, Maya," Daniel replied while taking out a cigarette, "but I've dealt with people like her before where she is such a cocksucker for uptight authority, kinda like an S&M complex."

"If she were any older, she'd probably be like an old witch eating up those fan boys and girls," came the reply of Danny's partner.

"Yeah right John, like kids these days would be afraid of a Hansel and Gretel witch even if she were to pull off those elements." Danny turned to both Wright and Maya. "By the way, Nick and Maya, I wanna introduce you both to my partner Detective Johnathan Briscoe, newly transferred from the precinct where Gumshoe was moved to."

"Well I know about Maya Fey, your sister has told me a lot about you," John replied while extending his hand out for a handshake to both her and Nick. "And you must be the new partner who was able to help Mia reject a date with the Grim Reaper."

"Well of course," Nick replied while returning the handshake. "But Mia never really did tell me about you."

"Excuse me?" Maya asked in near exclamation. "Mia never told you about her friends, John Briscoe of all people?"

Nick just simply shook his head no before Briscoe cut in ,"Don't let it bother you, Maya, I'm more flattered that he doesn't know about me or my background."

"Huh what do you mean by background?"

"I'm talking about my family's background in the world of law enforcement."

"Well if y'all can save that for another day, I wanna go ahead and get down to the matter at hand on this case," said Danny as the group began to stop at a welcome sign archway with a video camera attachment. In the distance you could see a cartoon looking monkey with its head chopped off to the left, laying on the ground alongside some trees. The statue was holding two signs on both hands: Studio Two on the left and Studio One on the right.

"I swear every time I see that monkey head, it reminds me of the time I had to deal with drunk drivers," said John while looking at the damaged statue.

"I was just thinking the same thing; that did look like drunk driver damage, Detective" Phoenix replied.

"Sadly it wasn't a drunk driver, it was actually the wind's doing," Danny said while digging through his coat pocket for the autopsy report of Bill Hammer to hand to Phoenix. "Be glad that you weren't here when he was discovered. It was enough to actually make you puke."

"Why did you have to arrest, Mr. Powers yesterday?" Phoenix asked after getting the report in his hands.

"Murder took place at Studio One, which you can see ahead, around 1:00 PM," John replied while pointing to said studios path "Around that time, there was no one else in the studio but Bill Hammer."

"Autopsy is saying that time of death was 2:30 PM, right?" Nick asked while reading the autopsy report.

"Yeah, and apparently only one person was in the studio between 1:00 PM and 2:30 PM," Briscoe took time to reply. "But personally from the start of this investigation, I've been smelling a rat but I can't put my finger on it."

"Why have you been smelling a rat, John?" Maya asked after taking a look around the studio.

"Well Ms. Pennock, that Security Lady, gave us a picture from the Studio's security camera which depicted a picture of the Steel Samurai. Problem is we honestly don't know if it was Powers or not," Briscoe produced the photo of the Steel Samurai from his pocket "I mean look at that, Maya, this does not look conclusive."

Upon closer look of that photo, it turned out that Briscoe was right about it not being conclusive. The Steel Samurai was just kneeling on one leg, with his weapon in hand, in almost near prayer to a gravestone. "Just how is this Robert Powers?" Maya asked.

"Exactly, Maya, even this type of evidence ain't gonna be much to point Rob as the murderer," said Daniel while noticing Phoenix's rising curiosity.

"Speaking of which, Detectives, it just occurred to me that both of you are giving us evidence that should've been exclusive for the Prosecutors. Isn't that against the rules?"

"It is, but when we told Edgeworth about you getting on this case, he gave us permission to work with you. Why? He never did give us an answer." John replied while giving the photo to Wright so he could put it in his smartphone.

"Now did the photo actually come from this camera?" Maya asked while pointing at the camera hanging left of the welcome sign.

"Camera label is ST1-307," Briscoe replied " In order to look for past photos that the camera recorded, you gotta type the label on the computer, and you can fill in the rest of the blanks."

Danny in particular was looking at his watch to check the time before turning to Maya and Phoenix. "Anyway the evidence we found so far will be used in tomorrow's trial but feel free to look around if we missed anything."

"Now that you mention it, John, we do need to ask the employees some questions and maybe find some possible witnesses who might have a different story," Phoenix said before asking "Are there any rooms that we're not allowed going into?"

It was Danny who replied this time "Well obviously, the Studio Two path is blocked right now and will be difficult to get around, but everywhere else is free reign. The only thing you have to know, fellas, is that Studio One is locked so you may have to ask around for a card key in order to see the crime scene."

"And what are you guys gonna do?" Maya asked, taking notice of the detectives leaving.

"We gotta talk to some former employees of Mr. Hammer, see if there was anything suspicious going on here, but we'll be seeing y'all tomorrow for the trial," Daniel replied while taking out another cigarette.

"Well, in that case, here's hoping that we don't screw up," Phoenix said after motioning for a cigarette.

"You and us, both I'd hate to see an innocent man be killed. But Maya say hello to your sister for me, and we'll be seeing you tomorrow," said John while shaking both her and Phoenix's hand. The two detectives went to leave Global Studios.

"I didn't know you started smoking, Nick" Maya stated after Briscoe and Reagan got to far enough of a distance.

"Usually I don't, unless I'm under extreme stress and that's what I'm feeling right now," Phoenix took a light drag during that statement. "So which way do you think we should go first?"

"Well the employee area here, on this map, might be a good place to ask for the key-card and ask questions while we're at it."

"Alright, after you," Phoenix said as the pair began to take off for the Employee Area.

October 16 Fey and Co. Law Offices

Meanwhile, Mia had been busy with showing her future former building of Fey and Co. Law Offices to a woman fifteen years her senior. The building was just a bare bone shell of what it formerly was and ironically she couldn't even remember the spots where her stuff had been put at.

"Obviously I can't promise that this building can be used as a home, but this building can be of good use for some small upstart businesses or if anyone wants to use this for commission-based businesses, that's fine too."

Mia and the estate agent who went by the name of Marissa Hamilton, were in the back of what used to be Mia's old office. While the ladies were discussing the floor layouts between the front side and back side, both ladies were slightly mesmerized by how unintentionally sexy each lady looked. Marissa, in particular, was Texican by both Heritage and skin tone with raven-black hair and aqua blue eyes. Her usual attire was a white suit and skirt combination that beautifully accentuated said tan skin.

"Ironically that's what I was here for. My boss is looking to expand on his company this year and saw that this place was for sale and said I could buy it as part of my promotion. We're looking to add more houses to this list."

"I guess since the Gatewater Hotel is right next door to us, he might use the hotel for parties and gatherings," Mia replied while noting the suite window next door.

What Marissa began to notice, when Mia talked about the hotel, was how she carried a form of depression in her voice, as if that hotel carried a piece of a deadly nightmare that Mia Fey had suffered. To some people it was probably nothing but a strange burst of emotion, like crying for no reason whatsoever. But along with Marissa being a real estate agent, she had been making some college studies on analytical psychology, and Mia Fey was unknowingly being a guinea pig right now.

"I couldn't help but notice something about your statement earlier, Ms. Fey," Marissa began to speak.

"Huh? what do you mean?" Mia replied, looking away from the window.

"While talking about the Gatewater Hotel, you were displaying a light form of sadness in your voice, as if you were hiding something." Marissa took Mia to an empty corner away from the window. "If you need to talk, I'm listening."

Like floodgates being opened, Mia opened up about everything, not just about the recent Bluecorp incident. She told this lady about losing both her mother and father in practically the same year, the family feud that her mother and aunt had, prior to her mother's disappearance after the DL-6 Incident. She told her of her studies to become an attorney to bring the Fey family out of shame, hoping it would bring her mother back, but instead it almost killed her when she started to go after Bluecorp, the same company that caused said disappearance. She finally finished with how she got accused of murdering her old mentor Samuel Rosenberg and her eventual proving of innocence thanks to her now partner, Phoenix Wright.

"After the Bluecorp incident, when I finally had time to be alone, I talked with Rosenberg through the ways of my clan and began to realize that there was something hidden about myself, and I almost died not knowing it."

While listening through the entire conversation with intense interest, Marissa finally spoke up "What exactly about yourself did you hide?"

"As soon as I joined the Rosenberg Law Offices, I lost my first case due to my client being poisoned, the only person who was able to offer me comfort, eventually became my boyfriend and he died within a year of our relationship." Mia had since formed tears during the telling of her story. "But prior to that relationship, I had a crush with one of my law school classmates, and she was female."

"So is that what you were hiding about yourself?" Marissa asked while turning Mia's head to look her in the eyes. "Honey, there's nothing wrong with being bisexual. I'm happily married to my husband but I'm also bisexual as well."

"How long have you been married?" Mia asked after accepting some tissues from Marissa to wipe her face from the makeup that mixed with the tears on her face.

"Been fifteen years since I married, and believe it or not, our marriage was made strong by my bisexuality because he allowed me to act on my lesbian side." Marissa then leaned forward to Mia's right ear and whispered, "And right now, a beautiful girl like you needs help, you got to succumb to this desire or it'll wreck your soul to the point of feeling like you're already dead."

This gave Mia a light surprise; this woman, who was still a stranger to her, was revealing a side to herself that still had an extreme taboo to a good majority of people. A majority that was luckily starting to decrease year after year. But here was this lady, old enough to be her mother, who not only outted herself, but was willing to help explore her hidden sexuality. Already she knew that there was no sense in denying it anymore, the Bluecorp incident made her realize that. So she met Marissa halfway and they kissed each other for five minutes, then shuttered the window blinds and locked the front door as she gave into this passion, a passion that ultimately felt like a warm waterfall cascading her body.

October 16 Global Studios Studio One

A crime scene that is barren of police officers and detectives with only the body tape still existent can be a very haunting experience to anyone, even if you are an attorney. Having found no people in the employee area, Maya by fan impulse had found Robert Powers' dressing room unlocked, so she and Phoenix began to look into said room to check their client's alibi about sleeping. So far the only thing to confirm that alibi was a messed up bed and nothing else. They did, however, find a key-card sticking out of Powers' brown bag and proceeded to borrow it.

They had just entered the crime scene at that point, and you could tell that the mood dropped like a single pin falling down. The mood wasn't much better either, because Phoenix at that point looked at his girlfriend wearing a face that would be perfect for a funeral, and he didn't blame her for that.

"You've gotten quiet all of a sudden, honey," he decided to break the ice.

"Doesn't it give you the shivers, Nick?" Maya asked while displaying said reaction. "Me seeing this white tape, it's making me sink in that a human being is dead and has no way of coming back."

"Even with the spirit medium training, you never really do bring the dead back, do you?"

"No, we can't. I cannot tell you how many people will cry even with the brief reunion of the dead, they still want it to last forever and we can't do anything about it." Tears began to stream down Maya's face and Phoenix proceeded to comfort her by gently wrapping her in a hug as she cried onto his chest.

"It probably pains you knowing that you can't even talk to Bill Hammer from the dead can you?" Phoenix asked in a low tone and gently rubbed her back as a form of comfort.

"No I can't, Nick, and that's why I'm sad right now."

"Don't worry, soon as we find the person who really did this. I'm sure you'll have time to continue your studies and become a full-fledged Medium in no time." He lifted her head from his chest to give a comforting smile and proceeded to wipe the tears from her eyes, before he gave her a gentle kiss on the lips, a kiss that said everything was going to be okay.

In midst of the kiss, Phoenix's eye caught a figure lurking in the shadows at the far-right corner of the studio. It was running away upon being caught by Phoenix as he broke the kiss abruptly.

"What is it, Nick?" Maya asked softly before Phoenix put two fingers on her lips.

"Shh...shh...be quiet and stay right where you are," he proceeded to take out the gun hidden in his inner coat pocket, a Bereta 4.5mm handgun. After the Bluecorp Incident, it was unanimously agreed by Mia, Maya, and Phoenix to apply for a handgun permit and not until now had any party had reason to actually take it out and use it. But anything was possible in the criminal justice system and everyone was fair game, even defense attorneys.

Upon searching for the figure in the shadows, at the direction of the studio, he eventually came across a girl. She had brown hair, eyes of the same color, with rounded glasses, blue and white striped shirt, brown vest, and regular blue jeans and tennis shoes. To Phoenix, she looked harmless enough but very frightened, that he immediately put the gun back in his coat and offered a gentle hand to her.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, ma'am, we thought you were someone else"

The lady accepted his hand. "Who are you exactly?"

"I'm Phoenix Wright, I'm representing Robert Powers on the murder case." They walked over to Maya, who didn't move from her spot. "And this is my assistant, Maya Fey, and as you can also see, she is also my girlfriend."

"I'm Sophia Nichols, production assistant for the Steel Samurai show." Sophia offered her hand to Maya as the latter shook it.

"Production assistant huh?" Phoenix became intrigued "What exactly do you do, here?"

"I help with the props and food, moving them around, and ordering new ones," Sophia replied before glaring at him. "I'm not gonna lie, I don't envy you guys one single bit, but...do what you can for Rob okay?"

"Why exactly are you on his side even though you don't like us?" Maya asked clearly not appreciating Sophie's last comment.

"Because I know, Robert, despite him wearing the Steel Samurai costume, he's a very nice guy and wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Look, Ms. Nichols, we're not gonna bother you too much we just need to ask some questions for our end of the trial," Phoenix proceeded to take his smart phone out and access the voice recorder app "For starters, we at least wanna know what you were doing during the day of the murder."

"Well as the only assistant on staff, I was in the studio the whole day, taking care of the props."

"The only one!?" Maya asked clearly not hiding the shock.

"Yes ma'am, Global Studios here hasn't been doing very well lately despite having successes with the Steel Samurai. Yesterday all we were doing was rehearsals for an episode."

"What kind of rehearsals?" Phoenix asked.

"That morning, we were doing a run through of action sequences in the employee area. Robert and Bill were there with everyone else."

"That same employee area was where Powers' dressing room was?"

Sophia nodded and continued, "After a lunch break, Mr. Hammer went to studio one. At that same time Robert was going into his dressing room. After that I saw neither of them."

"Now from what Mr. Powers had told us when we were talking to him, he was sleeping at his room around the time the murder had occurred. Is there any way you can confirm that?" Maya asked.

Sophie shook her head in sadness. "No, I was too busy with taking care of props around that time. Matter of fact I was over here around that time preparing for an action scene run-through."

"Well, by off-chance, was anyone else with you in the studio, like maybe you heard some fellow employees in the distance?" Phoenix asked and immediately caught a glimmer of hope when Sophie began to ponder that question.

"Now that you mention it." Sophia was still a little pensive "I don't know if this will help you or not, but I did have an uneasy feeling about someone being here."

"Like you were sensing someone?" Maya asked.

"Like I said, I was the only assistant here during the day of the murder and we were supposed to do a run through for an action scene, but before that I had this feeling that someone was here."

"Wait a minute," Nick began to realize something as he took out the studio map "Judging from the layout of this studio and this map, if someone were to come over here, that security lady would've noticed them."

Taking a quick look at said map, Maya nodded her head in agreement, the pair gave Sophia her thanks as they left the studio to talk with Ms. Pennock, the security lady.

October 16 Global Studios Main Gate

Prior to getting the card key at the dressing room, any conversation that Phoenix and Maya had with Linda Pennock remained that she thought Robert Powers committed the crime and could not be deterred from that opinion. Right now they were back into the security station about to talk to Pennock clearly wearing a look of distrust.

"What? I saw that suspicious look on your face!"

"We came here to talk to you about yesterday. You were here around one PM, correct?" Phoenix asked with a glare on his face.

"Yes, what of it?"

"The estimated time of Hammer's death was 2:30, and Powers was the only one to go through here between those times?" His voice became angrier with every word

"Sure as can be!"

"Well earlier, we talked with someone who thinks someone else was there at Studio One that day," Maya cut in with equal the anger. "Are you sure with absolution that you were here watching this whole time?"

For approximately 4 minutes, the red haired security guard stood silent, until out of the blue she asked ,"Who was it?"

"Excuse me?" Phoenix wore a light shock

"Who dares question the work I do around this fucking dump!?" Linda began to pull something out of her belt buckle. "You got 5 seconds to answer or I spray you with pepper!"

"You wanna be arrested for assault!?" Maya screamed fiercely, ignoring the spray can.

"Someone's complaining about the work I do, and they're gonna pay for it!"

"Alright, Pennock, if you wanna know so badly, why not ask the assistant in Studio One!" Phoenix was unfazed by the pepper spray.

In a fit of rage, Pennock had ran for Studio One. Phoenix and Maya had a pretty damn good feeling that Sophia Nichols would be getting an earful of yelling from her, but hopefully not an eyeful of pepper-spray.

"Well, if nothing else, I think we can finally check on that computer, Maya" Phoenix began to make his way to the back door of the security console

"Why do we need to do that?"

"Because while looking at the photo with Reagan and Briscoe, the photo they gave us had a number two on the time stamp. I wanna make sure if there were any additional photos."

"Well I do see that point, but my question is, do you at least remember the camera code?"

"No, the time stamp didn't say, but maybe you can go over and look for it for me and I'll buy you at the usual burger joint."

*****  
Didn't take but five minutes for Maya to scurry over to the welcome sign where the security camera was hanging to find the code and snap it on her own phone. But once it was done, Phoenix typed up the code that was on the camera, and it began to search the database from yesterday.

"Apparently Photo #2 is the only thing showing on this computer," Phoenix said after finding no more pictures in the database.

"Are you serious, Nick?"

"She's hiding something from us. When we cross-examine her tomorrow, I'm gonna squeeze it out of her, even if I have to peg her as the suspect."

"With a body like hers, she could probably wear that suit with no problem." Maya gave a light chuckle.

"Let alone her winning some sort of body building contest in San Francisco." They later agreed to call Mia and invite her over for lunch. They would eventually learn that Mia had closed the deal on the old Fey and Co. Building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Endnote: For those who didn't read the Author's Update I did prior to Chapter 6, in wanting to keep a dark tone with the series, I made some name changes to the characters of Turnabout Samurai, the name changes for this chapter are as followed:
> 
> Will Powers= Robert Powers
> 
> Jack Hammer= Bill Hammer
> 
> Wendy Oldbag= Linda Pennock
> 
> Penny Nichols= Sophia Nichols
> 
> Also many of you noticed that Dick Gumshoe is missing in this chapter, I'm sorry to say but he will not be part of my remake and Daniel Reagan will be the main detective from this chapter on alongside his new partner. I apologize for any disappointment on the part of the Gumshoe fans.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I would like to remind you all that I claim no ownership to the Ace Attorney franchise or the Law and Order franchise. Both properties are owned by Capcom, Dick Wolf Productions, and NBC/Universal respectively.

October 18, 10:00 AM District Courtroom No. 4

"All rise!" yelled the bailiff as the crowd rose from their seats for the judge to make his way to the podium, the tallest platform in the entire courtroom.

Taking his seat and banging his gavel, the judge said, "The court is now in session for the trial of Mr. Robert Powers."

"The prosecution is ready, Your Honor," came Edgeworth from the right.

"The defense is ready, Your Honor," said Phoenix Wright from the left.

The Judge nodded his head. "Very well, Mr. Edgeworth, your opening statement."

"The prosecution will show the people that at 2:30 PM, October 15th, the defendant, Mr. Robert Powers, killed fellow actor Bill Hammer at Studio One of Global Studios. It is impossible for anyone else to have committed this heinous crime and the evidence presented during the trial will all point to this fact."

"Very well, Edgeworth, and from what I understand you have a new detective under your command?" the Judge asked reading over the case in brief and not seeing Gumshoe's name on the paper.

"Of course, Your Honor. Ladies and gentlemen, I call Detective Daniel Reagan to the stand." Like clockwork, the bailiff opened the witness door in the court room and here entered Daniel Reagan taking the witness stand. "Now Detective Reagan, if you would describe this case to the court?"

"Of course, Edgeworth." Reagan entered a few buttons on his witness stand and a projector showing the Global Studios map showed brightly around the room "To understand this case, it's important to grasp the layout of the studios. This here is the Employee Area.

The actors did a run-through of their action scenes during the morning here. This is the main gate to the studios. The security lady that works at the studios was here at 1:00 PM on that day. Past the security station there is a gate to the right of her.

Past that are the studios and here it is...Studio One. This is the scene of the murder, where the body was found. Now, on the day of the murder, October 15, there were only three people here: the victim, Bill Hammer, the defendant, Robert Powers, and Sophia Nichols, the production assistant. All the production staff were in the Employee Area until noon.

Then after lunch, the victim, Jack Hammer, went to Studio One. Right after that, at 1:00 PM, the security lady got to the guard station. Now, jump ahead to later that day... 5:00 PM. The production staff came to Studio One to perform a rehearsal. Needless to say, the rehearsal was canceled...The time of death was 2:30 PM. The 'Samurai Spear' found lodged in the victim's chest was the murder weapon. That's the case, in brief."

"Now Mr. Wright, do you need to hear the details of this case again?" Edgeworth asked in a very polite manner.

A brief second of pondering, Wright replied "Um, give us 30 seconds if you can, Edgeworth."

First sign of Edgeworth's nodding Wright turned to Mia and whispered "Are we gonna need to hear the description again and write it down?"

"Were you not able to process all that, Nick?"

"No I wasn't, Chief, it's blatantly obvious he's trying play a trick on us with Reagan's long description of the case." Out of nowhere Maya came in between them with a yellow notepad paper.

"I actually have it written down, Nick, right down to the letter." Both attorneys turned their heads to her.

"Where did you get that notepad, Maya?" Mia asked in a quiet shriek.

"They had em available for no cost at the courtroom lobby, Sis. I forgot to get our supplies at the office."

"If that be the case, good thing the evidence was at my house or we'd really be in trouble," Phoenix replied while offering Mia a glass of water, turning to the prosecutor. "No Edgeworth, a repeat won't be necessary, we're ready for the first witness your honor."

"Before we do so, Reagan, if I'm hearing correctly the murder weapon was a spear?"

"Yes, sir, it was mostly used as a prop for the television show," Reagan transmitted details of the spear to Wright and Edgeworth's smart phones connected on their respective benches.

"Your honor, the case is simple if you ask one question: 'What did the security lady at the security guard see?' With that being said, the people call Ms. Linda Pennock to the stand."

****  
After going through the process of calling Pennock to the stand, Edgeworth got right to business "May we ask your name and occupation?"

"Linda Pennock, security guard of Global Studios," came her reply.

"Now on October fifteenth, you were at the studios during the murder of Bill Hammer, correct?"

"Yes sir, at the main gate, in order for the murder occur someone would have to pass right by me."

The Judge cut in, "You may begin your testimony."

Pennock began to testify that around one PM she entered her guard station, but around the time that the scene run-through between Hammer and Powers was going on, she had some errands to run but eventually stayed at her post until five that afternoon. Around two PM she stated and eventually pointed to Robert Powers, that she saw walking toward studio one.

"You saw the defendant around that time?" The judge pondered for about fourteen seconds before turning to Phoenix. "Begin your cross-examination, Mr. Wright."

"Yes, Your Honor." A transcript of Pennock's testimony appeared on Wright's bench as he began to ask the first question. "Now, Ms. Pennock, before one PM practically anyone could go into the studio right?"

"Not true, the gate was locked and you needed a card key to get in."

"Was there anyone at the studios when you arrived at the guard station?"

"No just Hammer and Powers working on a scene run-through between the Evil Magistrate and the Steel Samurai. They were getting the basics done and used most of the afternoon for practice."

"And rehearsal was supposed to start at five PM, correct?"

Pennock nodded and continued, "Hammer went to Studio One that afternoon."

"Now I noticed in your testimony Pennock, you were kinda vague about running errands that day. Care to elaborate?"

That got Pennock a little nervous. "Oh well you know..."

Pounding his desk, Wright wouldn't have it. "Answer the question, Pennock!"

"Well excuse me, counselor, I was watching the scene run through you happy?!" She began to get real snippy.

"I'm nowhere near happy, because you just admitted to not doing your job!"

"Well excuse me for locking the gate and doing my job, but I was not gonna miss Hammer's run-through. Never had in all my years at Global Studios." At that point Edgeworth had to raise an objection for witness badgering which the judge sustained.

"Nick, please try and control your temper around the witnesses," Mia whispered in Wright's ear and gave a gentle rub of his back.

"Then I may have no other choice than to pull off the big guns, Chief," Wright replied while looking at the last sentence of Pennock's testimony. "So you're alleging that our client, Robert Powers, walked past your security station at two PM, am I not wrong on that?"

"No, counselor, you're not wrong." And then she said it, "But I'm surprised that you're actually admitting that your client committed the murder."

"Actually, that is where you're wrong, Ms. Pennock, because I don't think you saw Robert Powers walking past you." Wright pulled the Steel Samurai photo out of his briefcase to show the court. "I think you were referring to the man in this photo, aren't you?!"

"Wait a minute, Mr. Wright," the judge cut in and motioned for Wright's photo who complied with the request. "What is this, exactly?"

"Your Honor, this is none other than the character in question, the Steel Samurai of Neo Olde Tokyo." The attorney turned to the witness. "Ms. Pennock, are you absolutely sure that you saw Robert Powers wearing this costume?"

"I'm fifty-four years old, counselor, but I haven't had a need to use glasses especially to see it was Powers." She turned to Edgeworth. "You would agree with that sentiment, wouldn't you?"

Edgeworth was shocked by the curve ball just thrown. "Um...yeah." Like that would save his butt. "But I do wonder"

Wright cut in this time. "It is true that Mr. Powers plays the role of the Steel Samurai on TV," he pounded his desk again, "but this is fiction we're talking about, and Mr. Powers does not wear this costume 24/7."

"I know what fiction is, I wasn't born yesterday." Pennock clearly didn't appreciate Nick's statement

"No one in this court is accusing of that, Ms. Pennock," came the voice of the judge. "However, you do not have proof that the person in this photo is Mr. Robert Powers, do you?"

"Well if you must know, Your Honor." She smirked. "I actually do have proof."

"Say what!?" Phoenix was surprised but probably not as much as Edgeworth.

"Excuse me!?"

"Don't tell me, Mia," Phoenix whispered to her. "He didn't even know either?"

"Apparently not, Phoenix," she whispered back. "Talk about hindering a strategy."

"May I remind you, Ms. Pennock to make known of all the information in your possession ahead of time!" Edgeworth made no effort to hide his levity towards the security guard.

"Hey if you wanna yell at someone Edgeworth, yell at your detectives, Briscoe and Reagan. They didn't even give my proof a second look."

"Well let's hear about your proof," said the judge.

Pennock testified, "I never say anything, I don't mean, mind you! That morning, during the run-through of the action scene... I saw Powers trip and fall! He broke one of the props, it was a big mess. Apparently, he sprained his ankle pretty bad. Now if you were to look at the picture, you can see Powers sprained his ankle pretty badly. That's how I know it was Powers, you happy?"

"So he had sprained his ankle during the scene run through?" The Judge was taking in the information while turning to the defense. "Very well, Mr. Wright, you may cross-examine the witness."

Phoenix was about to begin until he got tapped on the shoulder by Mia. "Um give us a few seconds your honor, if you please," he requested. The judge nodded in agreement and Nick turned his attention to Mia and whispered, "What's the matter, Chief?"

"There's no way you can find a contradiction, Nick, let me handle this cross-examination," she replied while carrying that same whisper.

"May I ask why?"

"Well while taking in the details of this case last night, there's a question that's been bugging me."

"Oh," Phoenix reminded himself who was the more experienced of the two. "Well if that be the case, I'll let the Judge know." He turned to the Judge. "Your Honor, with your permission I'd like have Ms. Mia Fey handle this cross-examination."

Soon as he heard Mia's name, the judge said, "Ah, Ms. Mia Fey, been a long time since I seen you at work. I trust you'll do a good job."

"Thank you, Your Honor." Mia turned to Ms. Pennock. "Now, Ms. Pennock, I only got one question to ask of you if you're so sure that our client here was wearing the Steel Samurai Costume to kill Bill Hammer...where is the costume now?"

That caught Pennock off guard. "Oh...well, doesn't Mr. Powers usually carry it with him everywhere?"

Edgeworth cut in this time. "Your Honor, may we approach?"

Barely a sign of approval from the judge as both Mia and Edgeworth approached his bench. Edgeworth spoke first, "To tell both of you the truth, the police couldn't find it, but they are still looking as we speak."

"They couldn't find it at the crime scene?" asked the judge.

"No, your honor, but that isn't of importance."

"And may I ask why, Edgeworth?" Mia cut in this time, clearly not amused.

"The witness did see the Steel Samurai; it's completely clear that the person in the Steel Samurai suit was Mr. Robert Powers." But Mia could easily tell Edgeworth wasn't convinced.

"Your honor, the defense requests permission to have the witness add further details in her testimony."

"I concur with the defense, Mr. Edgeworth. Right now all I'm hearing from her testimony is circumstantial." No further argument was pursued as Mia and Edgeworth took back to their respective places.

Turning back to Ms. Pennock, Mia asked ,"Were you ever told about Bill Hammer's time of death?"

"Yes, but I was told by a boy in blue, after I bribed him with some donuts," Pennock replied with a smirk. "Two-thirty PM was what they told me."

"During around the time of the crime, you're absolutely sure, that our client committed the murder of Bill Hammer?"

"Quite sure, nobody suspicious looking passed by me at all," Pennock continued. "If they had, I would have seen them."

That caught Mia's ear as she began to project the Steel Samurai photo from the defense bench, "I want you to take a look at this photograph, one more time." Pennock complied with Mia's request as she continued, "This photo was taken by the very same camera at the gate for the studios, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am," Pennock replied.

"So, whenever anyone passes by here, it automatically takes a picture?"

"I'm starting to think you have more brains than your boyfriend at the bench," Pennock replied while clearly not paying attention to Nick and Maya's disconcerted reaction.

"It's also true that the computer in the guard station records all security cam data, correct?" Mia proceeded to pinpoint a certain detail about the back of the photo "Note that over here, you see the words printed [Oct 15, 2:00 PM, Photo #2]"

"What are you getting at, counselor?" Pennock asked clearly not liking where this might be going.

"The issue here is the bit at the end where it says: 'Photo #2.'" Mia really went at it,"From what I was told, your security computer only held data for one photo from that day and I find it very odd that there was not a Photo #1 if this picture was the only photo."

It didn't even take the courtroom crowd ten seconds to get riled up. "Order! Order!" cried the Judge after pounding his gavel.

"Ms. Pennock, as you can see from this photo, there should've been two people at that studio, but there is only data for one photo," Mia began to pound the desk and point at the witness "My question to you, Ms. Pennock, if there was a photo number one why was it erased?"

Thirty seconds of silence filled the room until the judge cut in, "Ms. Pennock please answer the question."

"Trust me, I'm very computer literate, counselor, but the software they use is too advanced even for me." Suddenly Pennock got hit with a case of déjà vu. "Your honor, I just remembered something."

"Let me guess." The judge had a feeling where this would go, "Someone else passed by the gate...other than the Steel Samurai?"

"Yes, your honor, somewhere along those lines."

"Very well, your testimony please."

Pennock began her testimony by telling the court how she had one other important job to do, and that was to go through the photos recorded on the security computer. She would normally delete the photos that didn't look suspicious and remembered throwing away one photo that day.

As if Edgeworth wasn't already peeved the last time. "Ms. Pennock, this is the first I've heard of this!"

"I've only just remembered it like five minutes ago," Pennock flinched a little at Edgeworth's glare.

"Right anyway...Ms. Fey your witness." The Judge barely tried to hide his shock at the new information.

"Yes Your Honor." Fey looked at the witness "Ms. Pennock, your other job consisted of looking at photos of people who passed by that camera, correct?"

"Yes, I look closely at every photo the security camera takes."

"I imagine you never back up the data on the camera do you?"

"They keep telling me to, but it's very difficult to make that possible."

"Now looking at the testimony, you said you remember throwing out a photo, who was in that photo?"

"A crazy fan-boy, someone who was a Steel Samurai freak to the bone. They always sneak in and get information about rehearsals from God knows where."

That really got Mia's attention. "But earlier in your testimony, you said that no one could get in, correct?" She accessed a prior testimony transcript and found the sentence "'I locked the main gate so no one could get in.' Those were your words!"

"If you must know, there's a drain that goes into the Employee Area. The grate has been loose for a while; it's wide enough for a second grader to get in."

"Let see if I got this right," said the judge. "You saw two people pass by the gate on their way to the studios that day, the Steel Samurai dragging his leg and a second grader?"

"Can't stop 'em, can't catch 'em," Pennock replied. "But honestly, I didn't pay him any mind. That's why I erased the data."

While Edgeworth, Pennock, and the judge were conversing, Maya cut in with a whisper to her sister. "Um sis, what's going on? The boy was there and that makes him a suspect."

"Not gonna lie, Maya, I don't think he did it either, but I do think he might know something about this case."

The Judge pounded his gavel and everyone began to quiet down. "I'd like to have us take a five minute recess, I want both the defense and prosecution to consider this new information...and no forgetting vital information this time!"

October 18, 11:08 AM, District Court Defendant Lobby No. 3

"Robert Powers was it?" Mia turned to their client who clearly was riled with nervousness.

"Y-yes, ma'am?" Not to mention a little jumpy.

"Tell me straight: were you really in your dressing room? You didn't go to the studio?" Mia really wanted to believe in their client, after all it was still the first case of her new law firm. A loss could be very damaging to their reputation.

"I swear to you, Ms. Fey, I didn't go to the studio!" His voice almost carried a plea.

"So who was the 'Steel Samurai' in that security photo?" Maya cut in this time.

"How should I know?" Rob had to struggle to take a deep breath. "Look, I honestly didn't think anyone would have a reason to take it, that's why I usually put my costume in the corner of the dressing room. Anyone could have walked in and taken it, really."

"The way you talk, it's almost as if you really don't care about your role of the Steel Samurai." Phoenix felt as if their client was looking for an excuse to leave that role. "From the looks of things, you're only the likely suspect, right now."

"If you're right about that, Nick, what are we gonna do?" Maya felt very frightened at this.

"The least we can do, Maya. We're probably gonna have to do what I said we would do, yesterday."

"You mean pin it on someone else, Phoenix?" Mia asked.

"Yeah, Chief, kinda like how you used to do it. At the very least it could give the judge an excuse to grant a continuance."

"Be careful about that, Nick. If you pick the wrong person, we could lose on the spot," Mia felt concerned that Phoenix could make a jumpy accusation.

"You guys don't sound very optimistic," said Robert glumly.

"To be honest with you, we're not actually," Phoenix replied.

Just then the bailiff opened the door to call the defense team back in. "Well we better get this over with," said Phoenix with a heavy sigh.

****  
October 18 District Courtroom No. 4 11:13 AM

"The court will now reconvene for the trial of Mr. Robert Powers," said the Judge after pounding his gavel and looked to the prosecution. "Mr. Edgeworth, will you present the prosecution's thoughts on this matter?"

"The prosecution's thoughts are simple, Your Honor." Then came in his trademark smirk. "Nothing has changed. The other person who went to the studios was a boy of roughly ten years of age. The photo we do have may not be hard evidence, but there is still no one else that could have committed this crime."

"OBJECTION!" yelled Phoenix. "Your honor, the prosecution is merely speculating this crime out of circumstantial evidence."

"Oh really, Mr. Wright?" asked Edgeworth in pure sarcasm. "Then perhaps maybe you have an idea of who committed the crime."

"As a matter of fact I do, Edgeworth. A lot closer than you would think."

"Mr. Wright, may I remind you that this court does not look kindly on accusing the innocent. If you accuse someone who is obviously innocent, you will be penalized," said the Judge who made no effort to hide his death glare.

"Your Honor, members of the court," Phoenix began to point his finger towards Pennock "It was none other than Global Studios security guard, Linda Pennock!"

"W-what!?" Linda clearly didn't see this coming.

"The Steel Samurai is dragging his leg in this picture. That means whoever was in the suit knew about that morning's injury. That means whoever was in the suit knew about that morning's injury. Maybe because...they had been watching the action scene run-through." He finally fired one of the big bullets. "The security lady, Ms. Linda Pennock."

Not thirty seconds later did the courtroom crowd begin to talk when the judge pounded the gavel "Order! Order!" He turned to the witness. "I-is this true, Ms. Pennock?"

Phoenix didn't give her a chance "Ms. Pennock was standing guard alone at the main gate. She was by herself...in other words, she has no alibi." Pounding the desk he laid it in thick, "She could have briefly left her post to steal the costume, then slipped into Studio One, the scene of the murder!"

"W-why she go through the trouble of wearing the Steel Samurai costume!?" The Judge didn't doubt her type of physique but was confused about motive.

"Simple, your honor, she knew the camera at the gate would take her picture. If she was in his costume, she could point the finger at Mr. Powers!" But while laying his accusations to Pennock, Phoenix began to realize how eerily quiet Edgeworth was being this whole time.

After the judge gave his praise to Wright about his deductive reasoning, he too began to notice Edgeworth's silence. "Mr. Edgeworth? Do you have an opinion on this matter?"

Edgeworth was feeling very pensive but then gave his answer. "The prosecution has no meaningful objections at this time."

"Huh?" Pennock felt very betrayed at this point. "So it's true what people are saying, you've been in league with this law firm since you appointed them as witnesses during the Bluecorp incident!"

"Believe what you want, the fact of the matter is, I don't see anything to reject Mr. Wright's claim." Miles clearly not caring about her accusations.

Wright continued to make his conviction, "This is the very same reasoning that makes Mr. Powers a suspect in this case...all to cast doubt on Ms. Pennock's actions on that day!"

"But why would I do something so horrible Bill Hammer!?" Pennock began to feel sick in her stomach.

"You forget that Mr. Powers lack a clear motive as well."

And then Pennock said it, "What about that kid who was in the studio!?"

"You said it yourself, Ms. Pennock, that kid was either in the second or third grade." Phoenix really wouldn't have it and was prepared for more if necessary.

"When I was that age, I could pin my father down in ten seconds."

"Ms. Pennock, the year is 2016." Phoenix didn't miss a beat. "Most kids these days don't body-build like you do, and I'm willing to bet the kid couldn't handle this piece of evidence."

The samurai spear began to project from the defense bench. "It's been established in this trial that the murder weapon was the spear. There's no way a kid these days could handle a real life spear."

To Pennock it felt that she was getting punched silly by Phoenix Wright, which is why she was getting so silent over his accusation.

Fifteen seconds of silence and the judge began to speak. "This court will suspend proceedings on the trial for today, Mr. Edgeworth, please find out more about your witness, Ms. Linda Pennock, before we continue...the court is adjourned."

Although he did bang his gavel to suspend this trial, out of nowhere Pennock began scream her disapproval "WAIT A SECOND!"

"I'm not going to just sit here while you run off and accuse me of murder!"

"Ms. Pennock, are you asking to be held in contempt?!" The Judge was beyond pissed off at her outburst.

"If you do, you won't hear about how I was told keep quiet about something." That made Edgeworth and the Judge stop the bailiff.

"Who told you to keep quiet?" asked Wright.

"I wanna give another testimony, immediately," Pennock replied.

The Judge permitted Pennock to testify how Global Studios wanted her to quiet about some other people being at the studio on the day of the murder, telling her that they had nothing to do with it, to the point where they just told her to pretend that they "hadn't been at the studios that day." She wasn't going to let them get away Scot free since she had just been accused.

"Why did you keep this from the court until now!?" The Judge was clearly not happy with this new information.

"I told you before, Your Honor, I was told to be quiet."

"Mr. Wright, your cross-examination." The Judge felt more annoyed than ever.

"There's only one question I wanna ask Ms. Pennock: who exactly told you to keep quiet?" Phoenix felt relief that he at least had something to work with.

Pennock replied, "None other than Wesley Norrell, the main director of the Steel Samurai, and Joan Varnello, the producer."

Wright then turned to the Judge. "Your Honor, based off this information, we have learned there were others at Global Studios on the day in question: the producer and director were both present but they had not been questioned by the police. It's only natural that we call for a continuance of this trial and question those people immediately."

"The prosecution concurs with the defense," spoke Edgeworth.

"Very well, Mr. Edgeworth, you are to gather more information about the witness, Ms. Pennock, and find these other people in question."

"Will do, Your Honor."

"We are to meet here ten AM tomorrow morning. Court is now adjourned."


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I would like to remind everyone that I claim no ownership nor am I making a profit from Ace Attorney or Law and Order. Both franchises are owned by Capcom, NBC/Universal, and Dick Wolf Productions respectively.

October 18 The Law Offices of Fey and Wright

The trio of Phoenix, Mia, and Maya knew full well that it was not a good time to rest, but there they were inside their new building at Mia's insistence.

"Sis, it isn't like you to come in and start to relax." Maya wasn't angry but she was concerned about her sister having a change of behavior.

"Whoever said anything about us relaxing? The reason why we're in this office is to get my briefcase which you forgot to take this morning...and second, Maya, I'm gonna need you to stay here."

Phoenix heard that and got confused. "Why does she need to stay here, Chief?"

"I may have a plan to widen our chances of a victory and it relies mostly on Maya and her computer skills." Mia took the opportunity to boot up her computer and motioned her sister to sit down on the office chair.

"Wait, Maya, you know how to run a computer?" Phoenix asked while she took that seat.

"Of course, Nick, our schools at the Kurain Mountains were actually about to add some computer classes when Sis left to become an attorney. You'd be surprised to know that I was able to graduate high school at the age of fifteen."

"Mia, how long have WE known each other? Surely you would've told me everything by now." Phoenix had to chuckle at the beginning to laugh off the surprise.

"You'll get your chance on that eventually, Nick, but for right now we need to focus on the matter at hand and remember the two people mentioned at the trial." Suddenly Maya began to realize why her sister needed her at the computer.

"You want me to research on the producer and director?"

"The names were Joan Varnello and Wesley Norell, producer and directing team behind the Steel Samurai." Repeating the names gave Nick a sense of déjà vu. "It strikes me as odd that both those names sound very familiar."

"Can't say I blame you, Nick," Mia replied and noticed computer already loaded. "I've been so busy with work that both those names escape me, which is why, Maya, I need you to find out what you can about Varnello and Norell and let us know if anything comes up."

October 18, 2:16 PM Global Studios Path

They had already talked to Robert Powers at the Detention Center and he told both of them what wasn't already told: him sleeping at his dressing room and not taking one step closer to Studio One. He wasn't even made aware of the fan-boy that snuck around the studios, alleging that Linda Pennock always had a way to chase those people away.

Speaking of Pennock, Phoenix turned to Mia "From what I understand, the police had to take Ms. Pennock in for questioning right, Mia?"

"Yeah, Nick, I'm already having the visual of Briscoe doing his interrogation work right now." Mia wore an amused smile at that point. "Like how his famous grandfather used to do."

That got Nick's attention. "Speaking of Briscoe, from what I was told yesterday, apparently he knew you."

She nodded slightly while they made their trip. "He used to be a detective at this precinct; I met him a few years ago when I first started working for Samuel Rosenburg."

"So you're that old of friends with him?"

"You can say that and much more." Mia noticed how Phoenix was looking as curious as an eight-year-old boy. "What I can tell you is that we kept our beds warm for a few years."

Phoenix couldn't believe it. "Yeah right, Mia Fey, greatest sex friend on the planet."

Mia smirked a little bit. "Hey you may not believe it, but both John and I have some video evidence saved. We can show you the proof if you want."

They stopped at the welcome sign. The monkey head was still lobbed off and the tree branches were on the ground. At that point Phoenix had crossed his trigger fingers like the Cross of Jesus Christ. "I don't wanna know that, Chief, I'm just saying I don't see you having sex without love involved, that's all."

Mia started laughing. "My dear little student, you put me in too much high of a standard." Upon calming down from that laugh she looked at the direction of the monkey head. "I'm willing to bet that the producers might be down that path."

"Wait...you seriously don't think anyone would find a way past that tree do you?"

"Tell me you're not gonna need glasses," Mia said while walking towards that tree, "because clearly you were not able to see the path that wasn't blocked by the tree."

Sure enough, Phoenix began to notice a little path that was still open on the sidewalk near the blue bench and security camera. The path was so open wide that it didn't have an effect on Mia's stockings that she was wearing with her signature black suit. Seeing no further room for argument, Phoenix himself crossed that path and followed Mia's lead to Studio Two.

October 18 Global Studios Employee Area

"So let me get this straight, John Briscoe's grandfather was a homicide detective in New York City?" while during their walk to the employee area, Mia was telling Phoenix about the detectives family back-story. His grandfather was heavily mentioned in the conversation and how he was a high profile detective back in the day.

"From what I heard from him and the other cops in this district, he was if not one of the best of New York's finest and was actually fundamental in cracking down a lot of high profile cases in New York," Mia replied. Phoenix opened the front door and let her in first.

"A guy like that, I would at least have a tinge of jealousy," Phoenix followed her. "But then again, I'm the first one in my family to go after this type of job."

"No, quite the opposite, Phoenix. He wasn't jealous at all...inspired would be the word." Just then she caught a female figure in a camo vest kneeling at a square drain-hole.

"Hey, Sophia!" Phoenix called out to get her attention. Sophia stood up to look at the voice.

"Oh it's you, Wright."She immediately recognized his blue suit. "Who are you?" Sophia asked when she looked at Mia.

Mia offered her a gentle smile and a handshake. "I'm the real senior partner, Mia Fey, Maya's older sister, and I must say you look very lovely."

Sophia wore a light blush on her face but quickly recovered by changing the subject. "I've heard about the trial, great job, guys."

"To be honest with you, we're not patting our backs just yet. We still have work to do," Phoenix said hoping to tone down the excitement.

"But wasn't Linda Pennock taken into custody?" Sophia asked and didn't hide the confusion on her face. "I just got off the phone with her like ten minutes ago."

"Yeah, but that was mostly because she was being in contempt of court. It wouldn't surprise me if she were to be bailed out in a few hours," Mia took notice of the cardboard box heavily layered with masking tape covering the drain-hole. "Guess Pennock told you to cover that drain hole?"

Sophia couldn't help but feel embarrassed over her work. "Some assistant I am, I can't even fix a broken spear."

Mia tried her best to be comforting. "Don't you at least have other people that can help you with this?"

Sophia nodded slowly. "Of course, but the real expert on this job has been out sick this past month." She couldn't help but let out a heavy breath from her lungs. "I'm surprised they haven't fired me yet, most of the time I try to fix things around here like props and backdrops, they tend to look worse than before."

"Sophie, where I come from," Phoenix cut in by gently putting his hands on her shoulders and using a gentle tone of voice, "failure isn't failure if a lesson is learned from it. The way I see it there is always room to improve one's self at any job."

"He's right, Sophie, accidents happen and you always learn from them." Mia shared the same tone of voice that Phoenix used. Stuck with inspiration, she continued "Now, you may not have heard about this, but yesterday at our trial word was going around that a fan-boy was sneaking around here."

Sophie nodded. "That is true. It's the main reason why Pennock called me to seal that drain hole up."

Phoenix quickly caught on to Mia's thinking. "Well if by chance that the same kid mentioned in this trial shows up again, we're gonna need him over here."

"You're asking me to take this cover off?"

Mia was quick to soothe her. "I know we're asking you to do something that could get you fired, but in order to help Robert Powers we need to talk to that kid." She already knew that didn't do much to help the assistant so she reached for the wallet in her purse. "I'll make you a deal: if you help us and you get fired, we'll give you a job at our law firm."

To confirm that promise, Mia gave Sophia a white card that showed their office address and phone number, the card itself laid over ten one-hundred dollar bills. To Sophie that was more than what she would make in two months alone. No longer bothered by guilt, she took out a box cutter hidden in her back pants pocket and the drain was opened up the same way as when Maya and Phoenix first visited the studio.

"Just make sure this conversation goes out to nobody at least," Sophie said after completing that task. "I gotta fill in for Pennock at the security station, if you'll excuse me."

"No problem, Sophie, our lips are sealed," Phoenix said. He and Mia split up to make a path for Sophie to exit the employee area.

Upon her leaving the building and it was no one but Fey and Wright. "What use would she seriously be at our office, Chief?"

"What Maya is doing at our office right now. Could give Maya more time to train on her being a Spirit Medium."

"I don't know about that. She's probably more excited at investigating murders with me, and probably more calculating than both of us." The Bluecorp incident was still fresh on his mind and how Maya's thinking easily got Mia ruled out a suspect in Rosenburg's murder.

"Who do you think she learned it from?" Mia replied with a smirk while turning to the dressing room door. "Think we can check Robert's dressing room?"

"Yeah, I figured you wanted to see that," Phoenix said not wasting time in going to the dressing room door. "In the meantime, maybe you can tell me more about you and John Briscoe?"

October 18 Global Studios Dressing Room of Robert Powers

"So you were called to defend Briscoe over the murder of two high school football players?" Nick just got done hearing the back-story of Mia meeting John Briscoe and how he got accused of murdering two football players who were earlier acquitted in the rape of a high school student.

"Not five months after I got you out of your trial, you wanna talk about that case almost starting Civil War 2," Mia replied while taking in the environment of Robert Powers' dressing room. "I only had one partner outside of Rosenburg that was willing to help me with this case."

"From what I read about that case in the papers, Chief, the lead detective in that case was Bruce Goodman..." Suddenly it hit Phoenix. "Detective Goodman was the one who helped you, wasn't he?"

Mia nodded her head but before she could explain any further, her cell phone rang. She read her caller ID, then answered, turning on speakerphone "Hey, Sis, what's up?"

"Hey, I just found some info on our producer," Maya did not waste time in replying. "Turns out she's associated with some dirty scum."

"Just give me the basics, Maya, I don't want to throw every detail about her in court if it isn't necessary."

Maya complied with her sister's request as she explained how Steel Samurai producer Joan Varnello had been part of Global Studios since 2004, thanks in large part to a hostile takeover of the studios that was handled by a trucking and transportation company in the city.

"The big kicker of this company, her father, had numerous indictments for racketeering, money laundering and drug charges with no convictions," Maya said and left no room for questions as she continued. "Although, he finally did get a conviction for a murder of one of his associates, turned out that associate was stealing money from Joan's father and it left that man dead as a result."

Phoenix cut in, "So Joan Varnello is a member of a crime family?"

Maya replied, "Eldest daughter to be exact and apparently a very loyal one. She had over eight years of criminal charges herself with no convictions."

"Probably the same type of charges that the trucking company had," Mia stated. "Whatever the case may be, I think it's best that we don't talk to her about it if we find her."

"Well with that said, I do also have some info on our director, Wesley Norell," Maya replied through the clicking of her mouse. "Let's just say he even makes Ed Wood a genius."

Phoenix got confused at the name. "Ed who?"

Mia replied this time. "Ed Wood, B-Movie director who caused controversy in the fifties for directing an LGBT film. The controversy was so horrible that he was practically blacklisted in Hollywood at that time."

"Well, Norell in particular got his start in directing nothing but straight to video and DVD movies, mostly just ones for babies." Then the juicy stuff came out. "About eight years prior to him joining Global Studios, he was arrested on pedophilia and child porn charges. Sex offender status still runs in his record today."

"So we got a woman tied to the mob," Phoenix replied, "and a pedophile director?"

"Think what you want about it, Phoenix, but I still don't want to use this information in court," Mia turned to her phone. "Sis, we'll keep you posted, in the meantime go ahead and continue your training."

"Okay, Mommy," Maya said jokingly before hanging up her line.

Mia let out a chuckle of her own then put the phone in her coat pocket. "Well let's go ahead and look at the crime scene."

"Chief, you barely took a look at our client's dressing room." Phoenix had kept his eyes on Mia during the call. She barely even made eye contact at Powers' ruffled blankets.

She couldn't help but be defensive. "I did too, my eyes were mostly focused on the bed." She pointed her finger to the still messed up bed. "And the way I see it, his alibi does check out but we need to find a way to prove it."

"Well for all our sakes, let's just hope that kid shows up," Nick replied while they began to make their exit from the room.

October 18 Global Studios Main Gate

From the looks of things, there were no other people for Phoenix and Mia to talk to at the moment and they were leaning towards going back to Mia's car. Unknowingly to both of them, Sophie had already set up her shop to temporarily take over Linda Pennock's post, and looking somewhat different in the process. Sure she still had her regular clothes, only difference was that she had a black Kevlar vest overlay her white and gray stripe shirt.

"Afraid you'll get a bullet in you, Sophie?" Mia asked as the pair approached that station.

"Actually this belongs to Pennock You won't believe how this actually fits me despite our size difference," said Sophia who this time wasn't startled by their presence.

Phoenix decided to cut in "I forgot to ask you this yesterday, how are the studios doing?"

Like a dam bursting, Sophia replied, "There's police wandering around everywhere. It's highly terrible."

"Why do you think it's terrible?" Mia asked

"I'm a compulsive neat freak who can't stand leaving things dirty and the police won't let me clean up the lunch plates from the day of the murder."

Just then a voice cut in, "It's standard procedure, kid, we can't let anyone touch a crime scene until everything is all clear."

Standing behind Phoenix and Mia was one Johnathan Briscoe and on impulse Mia turned around to give the detective a big hug. It didn't fill the two year void since they last saw each other but both parties didn't care either way. "Oh my darling, Briscoe, I almost thought I would never see you again."

"The feeling is mutual, sweetheart, I guess I should thank your errand boy for saving your pretty ass." That earned him a light jab on the shoulder followed by an 'Oh you.'

"Who the hell you calling an errand boy, you man slut? Last I checked you weren't the one who barged in our old office to save her." Phoenix made no effort to hide being insulted.

"Relax, kid, it's a detective's joke." Briscoe decided to cut to the chase, "Anyway I come here because like you I need to talk to both Wesley Norell and Joan Varnello." He turned to Sophia. "But since you're here, mind if I ask some questions? She gave a nod to the detective as he continued, "From what Ms. Pennock told us, kids sneak in at the studio often, right?"

"Well..." Sophie had to think her answer through. "I honestly don't think there's that many of them, but I do see one in particular a bunch. He keeps running around the sets and snaps a lot of pictures."

"Probably gets Ms. Pennock's blood boiling when she sees him, huh?" Phoenix joined in the conversation.

"Oh you should see her eyes flash when she sees him, although she does have trouble catching him."

"With a build like hers, she's probably as slow as a boulder," John mumbled mostly to Mia. "Now in terms of Norell and Varnello, were you able to see them the other day?"

"Oh, sorry..." she said after shaking her head "I was in the prop storage room, so I didn't see them. It wouldn't surprise me none if they were here that day."

Mia cut in, "From what we hear, Varnello has been ruling this place with an iron fist, has she?"

"Maybe so, but she saved these studios from the brink of disaster and kept them running. I wouldn't have a job if it weren't for her."

"Do you know exactly where we can find Mr. Norell?" Briscoe was hoping it would be the last question.

"From what I heard, he's supposed to be in a meeting with Varnello at the studio today, but he does have an office in the employee area."

With that Briscoe gave her his thanks and the trio left for the employee area. While traveling to their destination Briscoe said "Poor kid, probably hasn't even scratched the surface yet when learning about the realities of life."

Mia couldn't help but agree. "She probably doesn't even know that she's working for a mafia daughter."

Phoenix added his two cents, "I think she does know and is doing a good job at keeping quiet."

They were about to enter the employee area when John said, "I hope you're right, Phoenix, I hate to see another person die over this."

October 18 Global Studios Employee Area

"We never got a chance to look at pictures, Briscoe, any idea what Wesley are we looking for?" Mia asked as they entered the area.

John dug out his smartphone to access the pictures app. "Don't worry, Mia, I got you covered because Danny and I did research of our own last night." Upon finding Norrell's picture he gave the phone to her. "He looks every bit the pedophile and yet so ugly could even make the fanciest gay man puke."

Sure enough the subject on the phone, Wesley Norell, had a very oily face full of pimples with big square glasses. He wore a dark purple long sleeved shirt, sleeves rolled up and covered the entire neckline; it laid on top a light blue unbuttoned up shirt and a white sweat towel was hung over his shoulders. He wore pants of the same color with white shoes and he had a blue and white Steel Samurai ball cap.

Phoenix cut in, "I imagine you got gays in your force?"

"Just one in our squad," Briscoe replied. "Gave an automatic 'no' once we showed him the picture." suddenly they saw a man walk into Robert Powers' dressing room and Briscoe automatically recognized him.

"It's Wesley Norell...so, Mia, you wanna talk to him or do you want me to?" Briscoe asked as they walked towards the dressing room.

"Well remember, John, we have a Mafia daughter to talk to. I'll save you for her."

"Fine by me, but if he brings up his pedophile charges I'm taking over."

"Excuse me, is your name Wesley Norell?" Mia said as the trio entered the dressing room.

Norell turned his head to her voice "Yes, can I help you?"

"I'm Mia Fey of Fey and Wright, and this man beside me is Detective John Briscoe of the LAPD. A few things have turned up on the case and we wish to talk to you about it."

"I gave you my statement yesterday, Detective. I was told that I didn't need to testify yesterday." Norell began to sweat profusely.

Briscoe cut in, "Change of plans. Edgeworth has agreed to call you on the stand tomorrow, but Mia would like to hear your side of it personally. Or if you want we can take this to the precinct, and I'm gonna warn you, I'm not a very nice guy to talk to."

Norell got on the defensive. "I was gonna talk to her anyway, I swear, there's no need to get violent."

John replied with a smirk, "Good answer, now how about we take a seat, and you can tell her where you were yesterday afternoon."

The trio and Norell took a seat at Robert Powers table as the director began to re-tell his alibi. "It was a pretty regular day, we had a run through for an action scene in the morning. Around lunchtime we had a meeting in the Studio Two trailer and we couldn't tend to lunch."

"This meeting wouldn't involve some network bigwigs, would it?" Mia asked while listening with pure intent. "And your producer was there with you, correct?"

It caught Norell's attention then began to give an ugly drooling face "You mean Joan Varnello? She's a genius, but she can also be very scary."

The trio had a good idea on why Varnello was a genius.

Norell replied, "She brought Global Studios back from the brink of destruction by making it possible for me to make the Steel Samurai, she was in the meeting with me from noon to four PM the whole time."

Mia finally asked, "I wish to speak with Ms. Varnello personally. Do you know where we can find her?"

"Oh…well." He had to think his answer. 'Guess it probably wouldn't hurt to tell them' he muttered to himself "She sent me from Studio Two to find a script for the next episode, I'm very certain she's still there."

With that said Mia, John and Phoenix got up from the stools to make their exit from the dressing room, but not without giving Norell a thank you from Mia Fey.

October 18 Global Studios Main Gate

They originally made their way to studio two and out of nowhere walked into a door being slammed and being locked at the trailer. A discussion went on about the increasing suspicion of Joan Varnello and her role in the crime, but if you were a homicide detective conducting an investigation that involves a Mafia daughter, you'd be suspicious too. Thanks to a suggestion by Phoenix, the trio agreed to look for a key at the security guard station.

But making their way to their destination, they ran into, as Briscoe would call her, the fifty-five-year-old bottle of sunshine. And needless to say, she was really happy, especially to Phoenix.

About five minutes of ranting to the blue suit attorney accusing him of making her wear the Steel Samurai suit, Briscoe tapped her on the shoulder. "Madam, we weren't making you wear the costume earlier, both me and my partner actually had to talk to you about a kid you kept chasing after prior to Hammer's death."

Pennock really raised her voice at that point, "As for you detective, for siding with these two whippersnappers, I'm now invoking my right to remain silent...AND IF I SEE THAT KID AGAIN I'M TAKING HIM DOWN."

John slowly rubbed his hand down his face as he said, "Ms. Pennock, you were ruled out a suspect, you don't have to be quiet."

Pennock couldn't help but be snarky, "Oh, so even you admit Mr. Powers committed the crime?"

Phoenix shot back, "Pennock, will you cut it out with this bullshit, we need to talk to a person in particular and find out what she knows about Bill Hammer's murder. The reason why we're here is because she locked the door to Studio Two and we need a key to talk to her."

Mia added her final nail to the coffin, "As far as us is concerned, if you want to be silent that's okay but we need that key."

Leaving no room for argument, Pennock had walked over to her station, pulled out the key to the Studio Two trailer and personally handed it to Briscoe. "Because I trust you will be able to give it back to me."

"I always appreciate a uniform who kisses my ass," John quipped as he took the key from her hand and led the way to Studio Two.

October 18 Studio Two Trailer

"If it's alright with you, John, I want to try and talk to Varnello myself," Phoenix suggested as the trio began to make their way to the trailer.

"Trust me, kid, you're better off letting me talk to her," Briscoe replied as he dug for the key in his jacket "She and I go way, way back so I do know how to talk to her."

Mia put her two cents in, "Briscoe is right. A woman like Varnello, or any other person in organized crime, would require a tough cop in this situation."

Leaving no more room for argument, Briscoe found the trailer key, unlocked the door, and turned the knob. Inside the Studio Two trailer it mostly contained a fold-able wooden table and aluminum folding chairs with blue cushions. The wall contained posters of old movies, most of them involving the late Bill Hammer, two of those posters were covered by a white board that detailed blueprints of sets for the Steel Samurai. Sitting in one of those chairs in her black dress and fancy cigarette holder was one Joan Varnello.

"Been five years since we crossed paths hasn't it, Joan?" Briscoe broke the ice as the trio walked inside.

"Briscoe." Varnello carried an icy tone in her voice, laced heavy in Italian. "I could never forget such a pretty face, especially one as ugly as yours."

"You're not the first bitch to say that to me," Briscoe said as he took a seat. "From what I've been hearing, Pennock has alleged at the trial today that you were hiding something from us."

But while John was talking, Varnello had blocked him out and kept smoking her pipe "Can this wait until later, I've been waiting on Wesley to give me a script."

But Briscoe wouldn't have it. "Here's my script for you: this entire place from the Employee Area to this studio trailer, it all looks like evidence to me. Unless you start talking, this entire place will be gone with just one simple phone call."

"Ah...the same threats you made to my father's own bars," she proceeded to reach for more tobacco in her bag. "Mid-May of 2012 if I'm not mistaken."

Briscoe grinned slyly. "Smart chick, but I'm smarter. I know how you been making your father's bars double the protection money. Five of them ran out of business earlier this summer."

But before she could reply any further, Phoenix cut in, "I don't wanna interrupt this family reunion between you two, but can we please talk about the here and now?"

Varnello's attention turned to the blue-suited attorney. "Powers's lawyers correct?"

"Phoenix Wright and Mia Fey, we are here on his behalf."

"Tell me something, Detective, am I still a suspect?" Varnello asked Briscoe.

"When it comes to you, I got a high distrustful nature." Briscoe proceeded to light his own cigarette. "But as far as my bosses are concerned, they don't want to call you on the stand on account that the alibi you gave me and my partner checked out."

Mia decided to cut in "So if you've got nothing to hide from us, what would stop you from talking to us?"

Varnello gave her full attention to Mia. "I'm going to tell you the same thing I told these detectives: there was a meeting that occurred here in this trailer. None of us went to Studio One because the monkey head was blocking our path to that studio. It wasn't until four that afternoon when we were able to leave this studio. Therefore, there was no way that we would've been at the studio."

Phoenix pondered her statement for a good three minutes while a cellphone began to ring. The phone turned out to belong to John Briscoe as he picked it up to answer while getting up from his chair. Wright finally began to speak, "I'm fairly certain that your people can corroborate your story, but even a newbie like me knows that a corroborated story can also be a lie."

"Thanks, Reagan, I'll let them know," Briscoe walked back to where Fey and Wright were sitting as he hung up his phone "Fey and Wright if you'll please join me outside. Thank you for your time, Ms. Varnello."

*******  
"Briscoe, what was that past talk all about?" Phoenix asked the detective as they walked outside.

"About five years ago, after Mia got me acquitted of murder, my first case after I got my badge back involved me arresting her father Charles Varnello because he was the perpetrator of a botched mob hit. So you can automatically tell the warm friendship we have together."

The trio began to make their way back to the Studio One path when Mia began talking, "I was beginning to wonder why Reagan wasn't here with you, John."

"Because he was able to find the kid that snuck around in these studios, a boy by the name of Cody Rojas. Turned out he lived in a five block radius north of the studio. From what Reagan told me, he's very shaken up about this incident."

"So basically, Cody saw the incident firsthand?" Phoenix asked.

"Starting to look like it, which is why I want Mia to come with me to the Precinct and talk to him."

Mia was inclined to agree. "Tell Maya I'm gonna be late coming back to the office tonight. She'll know where I'm at."

With that said Briscoe and Fey got into the detective's car while Phoenix began to get into his car to drive back to the office.


	10. Chapter 10

Standard Disclaimers Appy

October 19, 11:04 AM District Court Defendant Lobby No.1

"So we got that pedophile confirming to the court what we already know," Phoenix reached for a Styrofoam cup and proceeded to pour some more coffee "but he's also airtight about what he had for lunch, do you think he's also hiding something?"

Mia proceeded to pour her own cup "Last time I checked, I wasn't doing Norell's cross-examination...but I'm even more surprised that you didn't ask anything more about the steak lunch."

"Oh come on, Chief, you knew just as well as I did that Norell's testimony was flat out bullshit, if I did the cross-exam I would've been chewed alive by Edgeworth."

"Care to explain why, student?" Mia asked like Nick was still in law school

"More than likely if I were to press Norell over that lunch break over at studio two, Edgeworth would've said 'The testimony to this point has made one certain fact painfully clear that the people in the trailer had nothing to do with this murder!'

Maya took some hot chocolate powder from her sister's briefcase "The exact same words that you said in the courtroom," she poured some hot water in her cup "and here I thought you were messing with our case."

"Actually Maya," Nick began to reply "from both the statements of Norell and Varnello it was definite that both of them didn't go to Studio One, there's not a doubt in my mind that there is something fishy about both of their statements."

"And how do you propose we do that, Nick?" Maya asked as their client came in their lobby after a restroom trip, "from what I heard Norell is making his exit out of the courthouse."

"First off, it's not Norell that I have in mind," Nick looked at his elder stateswoman, Mia "second, it's not gonna be me that's talking to the next witness on the stand.

Mia caught quickly to the idea "So you still want me to talk to the child?"

"Don't play me for stupid, Chief, I know Briscoe told you to remain silent about your conversation with Rojas last night," Wright referred to last night when Mia was with Briscoe and Reagan at their precinct.

"I told you before Nick, it's a long standing agreement that we had when we first started working together: there are lines that we don't cross unless we have to...if we do it's best we shut up."

Just then Powers began to speak "Um...what exactly is going to happen to me?"

The trio looked at their client when Nick replied what Powers meant "It seems like everyone in that courtroom thinks I did it...They think I'm a murderer!" He began to tear up at the last statement.

Mia gently rubbed Robert's shoulders in a move to be comforting "Don't worry Mr. Powers, if you are innocent, we will prove it."

"She's right Robert, don't be strong for us...be strong for the fans of the Steel Samurai," Maya got into full fan-girl mode this time which ironically did the trick.

Through some hesitation, Powers gave his thanks to Maya before the bailiff came in to notify the group about the end of recess.

October 19, 11:15 AM District Courtroom No. 4

The judge immediately reconvened the trial while the prosecution and defense counsels plugged in their smart-phones to their benches. Edgeworth began to make a statement, "Your honor, the prosecution has a concern, as our witness is a grade schooler of tender years and this is a murder case," he looked at Mia with intent "I've made arrangements with Ms. Mia Fey to handle questioning for this boy, all we need is your approval your honor."

The judge thought hard for a few short seconds "That's fine with me, go ahead and call your witness."

"The people call Cody Rojas to the stand...oh and bailiff bring in a doughnut crate for him to stand on."

Like clockwork, the bailiff followed Edgeworth's command to the letter as a seven-year old boy from second grade appeared on the stand. He wore green Steel Samurai fan gear that consisted of a ballcap, jacket, tennis shoes and it over-layed an orange-pink shirt and black shorts. He carried a digital camera in his hands and a plastic Samurai sword on his back, on his face he wore two red circles and his neck length hair was tied in a ponytail.

Mia began to talk softly to the boy "Thank you for coming, will you please tell us your name and what grade you are in school?"

"My name is Cody Rojas and I'm in second grade," he gave Mia the same voice that signified how shaken he was over what he witnessed.

"Now Cody, you were at Global Studios on October 15 because you were a huge fan of the Steel Samurai correct?"

"Yes ma'am, I was," he answered softly.

When Mia took notice of the digital camera in his hands, she made a gentle reminder to Cody of the conversation she had with him when they were Briscoe and Reagan's precinct. If he didn't discard the camera, the mean judge would take it away from him.

Edgeworth cut in, "That was my fault, Ms. Fey, if it was gonna get him to talk I told him he could keep it."

"Miles Edgeworth making soft bargaining terms, now I've heard everything," Phoenix scoffed a laugh. 'Please tell me the world is not going to end,' he mumbled under his breath.

"My father just bought this camera for my birthday, it cost a lot of money, I didn't want to risk it being broken ma'am," Rojas left no more room for Mia to argue.

But she was already preoccupied with being whispered at by her senior partner "I think it might be a good idea to add his camera to our court record app."

Mia whispered back "I quite agree with you, so take care of that while I talk to Cody, okay?" she turned to the boy "So Cody, would you please explain to this nice man why you went to Global Studios?"

Cody complied to Mia by telling Edgeworth how he wanted to see a Steel Samurai rehearsal, just once, he found a map on the internet and went to the studios that day. By going through the woods to avoid Linda Pennock, he got lost for thirty minutes but when he finally got there, he saw the Steel Samurai and a villain. Rojas finished by saying the Steel Samurai won against that villain like any average television episode.

Upon Cody finishing his testimony, the judge looked at Edgeworth, "Seeing as how this is now Ms. Fey's witness, we're gonna have you cross-examine him, hope I don't have to remind you to be gentle with the child."

"I'll do my best, your honor," Edgeworth replied and began to look at the boy. "So Cody, you're a big fan of the Steel Samurai, correct?"

Cody replied by telling Edgeworth how he DVR'd every show and actually went to an opera adaption of the Steel Samurai, when Edgeworth asked about Cody making trips to the Steel Samurai Amusement Park "Every summer in June, my dad and I make that trip."

"But it was your actual first time being at Global Studios, right?"

"Actually...I've been there a couple of times but I was never able to get into a rehearsal, I downloaded a map to get in the studio without getting grabbed by that security lady."

"So how exactly did you get into the studios?"

"There's a row of trees that are in a park, there's a path you have to go off to."

"When you did go to the studio, did you see anything unusual?"

Rojas felt a little confused and repeated the last word of Edgeworth's sentence in the form of a question.

"I'm talking about the monkey holding those two signs."

"Yes I did see but his head wasn't busted," Edgeworth began to ask him about getting lost, "I couldn't figure out which way I was walking, so I felt very relieved when I saw the blue studio doors."

"By the time you came across those doors, did you see the Steel Samurai?"

"Yes, when I saw him, he was thinking about something before going in, didn't take him long to get inside that gate."

"Reading your testimony, you said that the Steel Samurai was winning against a bad guy, is there anyway you can describe this bad guy?"

"Kinda tall and skinny," but even a man illiterate to the news knew how vague he sounded.

While Edgeworth was weighing the answers of his cross exam, he noticed Cody's camera being installed into his Court Records app and while reading the last part of his testimony he had a burning feeling about the boy hiding something and took the plunge. "Cody, you originally told Ms. Fey here that you weren't carrying your camera with you on that day, right?"

"Yes sir, what are you getting at?" he began to shake at Edgeworth's change of tone that was originally gentle to the surprise of many.

"Well what you said was a little strange, because you stated before that you always bring your digital camera wherever you go, you were very clear about that."

"Mr. Edgeworth, if I may have a word with you," said the judge though Edgeworth knew it wasn't because of his change of tone in voice, "when did this digital camera get entered into evidence?"

"You'd be better off asking defense counsel, your honor, I'm just catching the evidence and running with it." Edgeworth angrily returned his attention to Rojas "For you to be so sure about bringing a camera wherever you go and then look me in the eye and tell me you didn't bring it with you to Global Studios!"

"OBJECTION!" screamed Mia "May I remind you that you're talking to a shaken up child, Mr. Edgeworth!"

Edgeworth wouldn't have it "I'm sorry, Ms. Fey, but when it comes to a child lying, especially in court, there's no such thing as nice," he returned to Rojas "Now I'm gonna ask you again, did you in fact bring your camera?"

Rojas began to feel irritated at this point "Yeah, I had my camera, so what!?"

"Why didn't you use it?"

"I...I was too busy watching," Rojas replied in hesitation.

Edgeworth turned to the judge "You're honor, I request that Rojas add more details to his testimony."

When the judge accepted that request, Rojas told the court how he did have his camera, "Y-yeah, I had my camera with me. But I was glued to the action! I couldn't take my eyes off it! The Steel Samurai, he goes for the bad guy... wham! Then... then the bad guy stopped moving! He's so strong! The Steel Samurai rules!"

By the time Edgeworth was allowed to cross examine Rojas, he spent about three minutes looking at the testimony transcript and noticed how short it was, but after some thinking, he remembered that no one knew that Miles Edgeworth was a huge Steel Samurai...and preferred to keep it that way. Edgeworth talked to Rojas, "I noticed in your testimony, you were kinda vague about how the bad guy stopped moving...why?"

Rojas wore a look of confusion "What do you mean 'why'?"

"Why wasn't the bad guy moving?"

"W-well, because the Steel Samurai brought him to justice!" Rojas tried to smile over his nervousness.

"And how exactly did he do that?" Edgeworth had a feeling what the answer would be.

"With a Samurai kick, punch, chop and slap...somewhere along those lines."

But while Cody gave his description of the event at Global Studios, Edgeworth's mind was already drawing a good idea for a conclusion and proceeded to act accordingly, "You did say that you witnessed the entire event, but I noticed how you missed an important part."

The judge cut in "What are you getting exactly, Mr. Edgeworth?"

"That's the question I'd like to ask Mr. Rojas...what kind of murderer actually uses a Samurai Slap!?" he looked at Cody again "My point is this, Cody, you may have seen some the Steel Samurai's fight but you missed a glaring part of that fight: the killing blow!"

The crowd began to make some noise but the Judge pounded the gavel, called for order, then looked at Edgeworth "Can you explain to me how he might have missed something so vital?"

The prosecutor pondered his answer for about thirty seconds, all the while looked at the defense counsel across from his bench "Perhaps, Mr. Wright himself can explain it for us: there must've been a reason that Cody didn't see the climax of the fight and I know he has the evidence to prove it."

The courtroom crowd began to talk amongst themselves, everyone of them felt so surprised that Edgeworth, in layman's terms, threw a willful interception to the defense council that was Fey and Wright. The crowd talking amongst themselves quieted in an instant when the judge pounded his gavel again and everyone became silent. All the while, Phoenix pondered at Edgeworth's question, it didn't take him long to find the logical answer though. He proceeded to pull up his court records app from his smartphone and presented the camera.

"Your honor, I think what Edgeworth was referring to is this camera, earlier in his testimony he said that he wasn't familiar with its operation."

It took the judge a few seconds to realize what Phoenix Wright was talking about and gave him road to continue his statement "Why would Cody be looking somewhere else at that critical moment? Because he was looking at his camera to try and take a picture"

Cody couldn't believe the fact that these attorneys easily picked through his lie like an ice cream spoon and to his mind, both of those grown-ups obviously had a thing for picking on little kids. So blinded by that personal accusation, he didn't realize that those same attorneys knew that there was no way that he could stand there, watch what happened and not take a picture.

"Your honor," Phoenix looked at the judge "the defense would like to request that Cody Rojas testify once more about his camera and why he couldn't take a picture of the fight."

Like clockwork, Cody began to explain that the Steel Samurai had just escaped from the clutches of the villain, so he tried to take a picture with his camera but the lens wouldn't open in time, so he missed it.

The judge himself couldn't find anything glaring in his testimony, he asked Wright if he found anything but before Wright could answer, Edgeworth cut in "Your honor, I do have a question for this boy, I wish to handle this cross-examination."

"Very well, Mr. Edgeworth, you may proceed," The judge replied.

Edgeworth again looked at Cody "So you tell us that you didn't take a picture...but I have more than enough proof that you actually did take a picture."

Rojas really was surprised at this "How did you know!?"

Edgeworth took this as an opportunity to pull out the trump card, one that was given by Rojas himself "It's because of a little gift you gave me, before you took the stand."

The gift Edgeworth referred to was a light blue book that contained photos of every victory the Steel Samurai had on both the stage and screen. Cody gave this book to Edgeworth personally as a gift, he didn't know why actually but didn't have a problem with keeping the book. When looking at the book while Cody gave his statement about the camera, Edgeworth found the glare.

"Cody...did you really get a picture of the Steel Samurai at Global Studios?"

"Don't I always get a picture of the Steel Samurai and his victories?"

"I don't doubt that, Cody, what I'm doubting is the fact that you took a picture of the Steel Samurai standing victorious over his foe," then he pulled the book out of his briefcase "If you did, I find it very hard to believe that you would just erase it, when you should've put the photo in this book."

The judge motioned Edgeworth to enter this book into evidence, which Edgeworth complied and explained to the court "Ladies and gentlemen, I bring to your attention a book of photos taken by Cody Rojas himself, a perfect collection of every battle the Steel Samurai has won."

When the defense council received the book in their smart phones, it began to sink in as to what contradiction Edgeworth found...the collection wasn't as perfect as advertised. Edgeworth noticed them taking the information in and elaborated more for the court "Think about it, if the Steel Samurai had just defeated his adversary, wouldn't you take a picture and save it for the photo albums?"

But while the words ran out of his mouth, he began to realize that there was a possibility that everyone over-looked, but before he could think on it further the judge cut in "Mr. Edgeworth, can you please explain to the court why there was picture in the album from the day of the murder and why would the boy have erased the photos he took?"

"I was thinking the same thing, your honor, and the only logical reason I have is that the Steel Samurai didn't win, which will explain why Cody deleted those photos." Edgeworth then turned his attention back to Cody "I'm not wrong, am I? Did the Steel Samurai lose?"

Cody was in complete denial "It's impossible! The Steel Samurai never loses, he never loses to anyone! Ever!"

But Edgeworth wouldn't have it "Your honor, the witness has revealed everything with his words, there was a reason why he lied and told us he didn't take a picture. The same reason he erased those photos, for Cody it was inconceivable for the Steel Samurai to be defeated...but he witnessed it. Yet to admit what he saw would destroy everything he believed in. To put everything in perspective: he couldn't handle the truth!"

At that point, the courtroom crowd began to make noise again, though it immediately got quieted down by the judge pounding his gavel, called for order and looked at Cody "What did you see?"

The weight of Edgeworth telling the truth to the entire court overwhelmed Cody, to the point where he broke out in tears and cried like any regular child would...bawling like a baby.

"Cody, you saw the Steel Samurai lose a fight, did you?" Edgeworth asked in a gentler tone.

In between breaks of him crying, he managed to answer "It's true! It's I-it's true! The Steel Samurai f-fell down and he didn't get back up."

And while hearing the statement, both Edgeworth, Wright and Fey had just realized a new revelation in this murder but they needed Cody calm enough to confirm it. Mia spoke first "Your honor, with the witnesses state of mind I request a recess to get him to calm down."

When Edgeworth declared no objection to this recess, the judge granted it, that's when Miles called to Fey, Wright and Maya "I want all three of you and your client in my chambers ASAP. Cody I'm also gonna need you there, that nice gentleman will take you."

Miles left no room for questions as he walked away from his bench while the defense trio did the same.

October 19, 2:30 PM District Court People's Lobby No. 1

Throughout the entire murder case of Robert Powers, the entire paparazzi parade had been on a wild tear about the entire debacle, barely making any room for the defense team to make their way to Edgeworth's lobby; same thing was said about Cody and his father who'd been with him the entire part of the trial, they were being hounded by questions from the paparazzo regarding Robert Powers and his role in Bill Hammer's murder. Robert, at that point, was already taken back into police custody so he didn't get as many paparazzi hounds as his attorney's.

By the time Phoenix, Mia and Maya made it to Edgeworth's Prosecution Lobby, he was already there with Cody and his father "Well Wright, I shall again concede my imminent defeat with you."

Phoenix and the Feys began to take a seat on a couch that sat across Edgeworth's "What do you mean, Edgeworth?"

Mia began to talk "I think what Edgeworth is referring to is that, if we put all the puzzle pieces together, we're beginning to see that a serious error was made throughout this incident...I'm correct on that am I, Edgeworth?"

The only reply Edgeworth gave was a slight nod but Phoenix decided to speak up when he realized "Of Course! It all makes sense now!" Then he looked at Cody who was sitting in a separate chair beside his father "From what you told us, the Steel Samurai was in the middle of a fight but fell down and didn't get back up right?"

When Cody gave Wright a silent nod, he continued "Then there's no question that Bill Hammer was the Steel Samurai."

Thus began a conversation from Mia, Phoenix, Maya and Miles about how a prior testimony from Linda Pennock linked with Cody's. Bill Hammer was present with Robert Powers during the scene run-through that morning, thus knowing that Hammer knew about Powers' foot injury. Reading back to how Pennock didn't see Hammer when she arrived at her guard station at one PM, the conclusion was reached that Hammer left the Employee Area after lunch but no one saw him going to studio one. Instead, Hammer waited for Mr. Powers to take a nap in his dressing room and stole the Steel Samurai costume. What neither party could come to a conclusion to though, was why would Bill Hammer actually steal the Steel Samurai costume in the first place.

But while everyone was conversing about the switch in the crime scene, Cody's father motioned everyone to be quiet because he needed to say something, "Guys...I just remembered that I actually did save a photo."

That made the entire room pin drop silent for nearly a minute before Mia remembered what no one really noticed about Cody's camera. Like most cameras today had an SD Card slot to save the pictures on the computer for a future use, Cody's camera in particular had a USB port, which could also be used to transfer photos to a computer "Cody, sweetie, do you have a USB chord with your camera?"

Cody nodded and replied "It's in a separate bag inside my book bag, give me a minute and I'll get both of them out."

By the time Cody had done so, Mia connected his chord to her smartphone, accessed his photos and sure enough came across a photo of the Steel Samurai, problem was it wasn't really all that legible. All everyone could see was the Steel Samurai standing beside a big wall with an "S" painted beside him and in front of him was another sign that definitely could've passed for either the number "2" or the letter "Z." But Mia Fey wasn't stupid, she remembered how Global Studios only had 2 studios to begin with and began to relay this thought to the people in the room.

"So it does all fit now," Edgeworth realized after Mia finished her thought "the real scene of the crime should've been at Studio Two, but instead Hammer's body was moved to Studio One."

Phoenix added his two cents "He was trying to be the Steel Samurai in place of Robert Powers...he was trying to set him up for a frame."

Maya on the other hand, became a little curious "Well assuming that Cody was right in saying the Steel Samurai fell down and didn't get up after a fight, wouldn't his killing be a form of self-defense?"

"It's one thing to kill in self-defense, sis," Mia replied "but tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice is an even bigger thing."

Out of nowhere there was a knock on the lobby front door and so entered detectives Daniel Reagan and Johnathan Briscoe, which the latter began to speak "Hopefully we're not interrupting anything, fellas."

"On the contrary, we were putting together a different scenario of Bill Hammer's murder," Edgeworth replied as he began to explain to the detectives what transpired at the trial.

It was Reagan who replied "So Cody's testimony already confirmed what Briscoe and I had suspected in this case from the beginning, we were smelling a rat and we found it."

"What exactly did you guys find?" Phoenix asked

At that point, Briscoe opened a briefcase of his own and took out two items wrapped in a plastic bag. One of those items was white china that was covered in a blue liquid stain, the second item was a tiny bottle with a label that read sleeping pills, "Mr. Edgeworth, these items here not only confirmed Mr. Powers' alibi at the time of the murder, but we also have a major link to why Bill Hammer was motivated to kill Ms. Joan Varnello."

"What link would that be, Briscoe?" Edgeworth asked while being handed what looked like a very old photo.

"Last night after we finished talking to Mr. Cody Rojas, we got a call from Ms. Linda Pennock who wanted come forward with some information related to the case and wanted to come into our precinct to talk to us in private. Turns out Bill Hammer was involved in a horrible accident that happened to an extra in a movie that turned out to be canceled," Briscoe explained while Edgeworth looked at the photo.

Reagan began to speak "That photo you see was the only thing linked to that accident, from what Pennock told us, Varnello made a thorough effort to have it all covered up. Apparently she gave that photo to Pennock in case Bill Hammer tried to escape being the Evil Magistrate...Hammer was being blackmailed and he had a motive to kill Joan Varnello."

The photo in particular was one Bill Hammer in his younger years and at the prime of his career, looking in horror at a man being impaled by a spike, dead on impact. That same spike belonged to the flower bed at Studio Two, that's when Edgeworth made his final decision and looked at Phoenix and Maya "I'll arrange for your client to be released immediately and have all of his charges dropped."

Phoenix began to reply "I know who you're gonna arrest Edgeworth, there's a big chance that once Ms. Varnello finds that out she'll make a flight for it."

"What are you saying exactly?"

Mia caught on to Phoenix's thinking "What my partner is saying, is that it might be safer to keep Powers in jail for the time being and...one of us is gonna have to make a sting arrest on Varnello and Norell."

Miles in particular thought about that plan...and actually liked it "Okay, I better get an arrest warrant from the judge, we'll have time to discuss whose going to take part in the sting."

October 19 Studio Two Entrance

Upon hearing the evidence that was uncovered during the recess, the judge easily authorized Joan Varnello's arrest warrant with Wesley Norell being added as a bonus. The only uneasy part was who would volunteer for the sting arrest...it wasn't that nobody didn't want to do it, it was only the reverse. But after some discussion an agreement was reached to have both Phoenix and Maya be part of the sting. So while Phoenix and Maya were getting prepared for this sting at the Employee Area, not only did they notice the tables being cleaned of all the lunch plates and glasses from the day of the murder, they noticed a lot of things from Robert Powers' dressing room and being put right outside his window it was later confirmed by Sophia that Global Studios was going to cancel the Steel Samurai in exchange for serious programming.

Although Maya Fey wasn't angry enough over that news, she was forced to calm down after being reminded of what both her and Phoenix came here to do. Reagan and his team had everything set up for the sting, an unmarked van full of cops in SWAT uniform were in the back of the van while Danny, John and Mia were in the front and ready to listen in the conversation. By the time the pair made their way to Studio Two, Maya was already trying to convince Varnello that since Powers' was innocent of the murder and there was no need to cancel the Steel Samurai.

"Well maybe I'm tired of the Steel Samurai," was all Varnello could say while looking at the blue partly cloudy skies.

That's when Maya really got upset "Your show is popular amongst children and you say you're tired of the Steel Samurai?!"

Before things got out of hand, Phoenix began to speak "Actually Maya, I think it's because she knows what we found out on Bill Hammer."

"What do you mean, Nick?" Maya asked while Varnello was looking away.

"Why else would she want to cancel the Steel Samurai other than to make a final burial of the scandal that she caused?" that's when Phoenix dug out the five year photo from his coat pocket "The same scandal that made you wreck Bill Hammer's movie career."

Though her eyes were still focused on the clouds as Wright pulled out the photo, Varnello asked "Where? Where did you get that?"

"What makes you think I'm gonna tell you?" Phoenix was not in the mood for her bullshit "You still haven't answered my question on why you were so hell bent on wrecking Mr. Hammer's life with this photo."

For a few seconds Varnello was silent before she replied "The wind has gotten stronger don't you think?"

"You're changing the subject again," Phoenix said with annoyance.

"And your conversation interests me...shall we talk about this in the trailer?" though Varnello didn't leave room for a reply she instead marched up the trailer stairs and went inside.

When she did go inside, it gave Wright an opportunity to talk into the hidden microphone inside his jacket "The suspect went inside the trailer, Briscoe, you better get ready."

With that said, Wright and Maya went inside the trailer to confront Varnello.

When Phoenix and Maya did enter the trailer, they gave Varnello no mercy at this point, Phoenix spoke first "You were blackmailing Mr. Hammer so you could control him into doing that kids show for petty change didn't you?"

"Oh...so I'm a blackmailer now?"

"Don't play stupid with us!" Maya replied with a yell "You don't think we knew about how Bill Hammer had a perfect motive to kill you after five years of paying him a ramen-noodle soup wage, let alone making him lose in every Steel Samurai episode!?"

"We're building a witness list that will be used as evidence against you in court," Phoenix pointed a finger at her "Pennock, Nichols and even Norell talked about how you blackmailed Hammer...all because of one simple filming accident!"

Varnello really got upset this time "What is this all about!? You keep saying 'accident' 'accident', how can you be so sure!?"

"Evidence doesn't lie, Varnello," was all Phoenix had to say.

"Think what would it be if it wasn't an accident?" Varnello asked

Maya wouldn't buy it "How can YOU be so sure that Hammer killed that stuntman on purpose, you don't have any proof."

"Would he have let me run his life for five years...over a mere accident? I ran him hard during those five years, that security lady may say it was an accident, but that means nothing coming from a big supporter of Hammer's work."

"From what she told the police, you gave her this photo after having that reporter silenced, he disappeared a few days after that." Phoenix tried to put the puzzle pieces together

Varnello finished it for him "On the contrary, all Pennock had to do was break his leg and in exchange for his silence, we kept him alive and made him not become another part of a newspaper again," the tobacco in her pipe was about to run out so she proceeded to fill it up with more "All the reporter would need is the negatives and he could've made a copy, but we took those away from him so the only copy of that photo is the one you hold...I suggest that you give it to me. Now"

"No thank you," Phoenix replied in defiance.

Then out of nowhere, four men all taller than Varnello, Wright and Maya were standing behind the Mafia daughter who said "These professionals you see before you are good at erasing various things. It's very unfortunate that when the trial ends tomorrow you'll have to miss it."

"You cannot be serious," Phoenix said in disbelief "all this so you can have this photograph back? Why should you even care about this at all!?"

Varnello let out an evil smile at this point "I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to think about that wherever you're going," she then turned around to walk away from her four men "Boys...erase away."

"Nooooooooooo!" Maya screamed out of pure fear that this may be the last day of her life.

BANG! Though it did not come from a gunshot, instead it came from "THIS IS THE LAPD, EVERYONE DROP YOUR WEAPON, GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES AND PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!"

Those screams belonged to some officers in their SWAT uniforms who just stormed into the studio two trailer and made Joan's boys kneel down on the floor while Detectives Reagan, Briscoe and Defense Attorney Mia Fey followed in from behind; The sting was now considered a success.

Briscoe took out his handcuffs "To think you almost got away with another murder, Joan, you're under arrest for the murder of Bill Hammer, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law."

While Briscoe read Varnello her Miranda rights, Mia made her way to Maya who was very shaken up by the ordeal "You were very brave, Maya, I'm very proud of you for what you did today."

Maya didn't reply though, mostly because she was crying, though who could blame her for doing so after having four guns be pointed to her.


	11. Chapter 11

Standard disclaimers apply

Flashback to Global Studios #2 5 years ago

Prior to the Steel Samurai even coming to fruition, another show from a foreign land had reached the pinnacle of popularity in American shores. The show in particular focused heavily on a boy who was a tennis prodigy and mostly made his home in Japan but also made trips to Los Angeles for competitions. Through taking on some interesting characters who had unique tennis abilities, the main character who went by the name of Ryoma Echizen, had bested his opponents by analyzing their move sets during a match so he could adapt his own play accordingly and he had a unique way of changing his tennis playing hands from left to right if necessary. Biggest complaint about this character was that he always carried a bored cocky demeanor that often served as a mask to hide the affections he had for his teammates, which led to many critics to have the opinion that such a character trait would be difficult for audiences to grasp.

Despite those criticisms of both the show and that character, Prince of Tennis gained enormous popularity both in Japan and the United States to the point where Global Studios wanted to attempt a movie inspired by the show with Bill Hammer as the star. By that time Studio 2 was newly built and they were ready to film a fight scene that went between Bill Hammer's character and an extra in that movie who was working for a villain. What nobody counted on though was anyone dying from a dangerous prop, but when it did happen the screams were everywhere.

"Someone get an ambulance!" yelled a director.

"There's blood everywhere...we're too late!" said a studio medic.

A crew member noticed a female dressed in black coming out of the studio trailer "Aah! Ms. Varnello!"

"What...? What happened here?" She asked with a yawn due to her waking up to the screams.

"It's your boyfriend, Ms. Varnello, he fell from the trailer porch," the crew member replied.

Varnello shifted her focus to a man lying face down and impaled by a metal spike, blood draining out of his body into the flowers and concrete. He wore all black from the jeans and shoes to the Kevlar vest and long sleeved shirt, no one could see the eyes but he had a look of shock that Bill Hammer would carry five years later. The name of that person belonged to Manuel Pedroza, who prior to his death, was a lover of Joan Varnello for 3 years. Because of that relationship being built on both Varnello and Pedroza's mutual appreciation of the martial arts movies from Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan, Varnello used her connections with her family to secure her gaining control of Global Studios and easily landed her lover in mostly small movie parts...a career that Manuel didn't take for granted. Before he died, he was supposed to play the part of a henchman for a villain in this Bill Hammer movie. Right now, Bill Hammer being dressed in some tennis gear and looking in absolute horror at Manuel bleeding to death on the sharp metal gate.

Though his horror wasn't even remotely compared to Joan's horror who was forcefully being held back by studio security that was on hand in the studio, she was trying to get close to the body, she began screaming his name when she did get held back.

"Ms. Varnello, please, try to remain calm..." said a guard on her right.

"No...! No! How could this happen!?" screamed Varnello

"I swear to you Varnello all of this was just an accident," came the voice of the director who was trying to calm her down. "We were just doing an action scene and..."

When Varnello remembered what Manuel and Hammer were supposed to do that day, she made one final attempt to go after him but she was held back again and it became the final straw for her as she broke down and sobbed uncontrollably. The man she loved was dead and there was nothing she could do about it.

October 20, 1:12 PM District Court Defendant Lobby No. 3

In the world called murder, a killer would automatically cry that he or she didn't do it and would even go as far as getting an attorney to either suppress evidence that police would uncover either by the book or by breaking the rules. If a judge were to grant the suppression of said evidence, it would be up to prosecution to conceive another way to put the murderer behind bars, which in turn would uncover new evidence or witnesses. If prosecution outweighed the defense then a plea deal would be made.

But in Joan Varnello's case, she just didn't want to go through the same drama that her father went through, didn't save her from getting screamed at from both sides of the spectrum. Her attorneys told her not to do this because she was risking the death penalty, but ultimately the choice befell between Varnello and Miles Edgeworth. As a result, Edgeworth made arrangements with her to instead take fifteen years to life and Joan accepted without any argument. Right now the final arrangements were made for Robert Powers' release from police custody and once that was done there was no hiding the big smile on his face. He came out a much different man than the one that Phoenix and Mia met three days ago and made no effort to hide it from them.

"I was right to call you guys all those days ago, you did a very good job," Robert reached out to shake both their hands in thanks.

"No problem, Mr. Powers, we're just glad that we were able to get you out of trouble," Mia replied while returning the smile. "We're just as glad that we didn't have to argue with Varnello about whether she killed him or not."

"Or better yet her having to play some sort of mind games with us," Phoenix added his two cents to the conversation. "Something tells me that she would've played a test on us."

Maya cut in, "I think her pleading guilty to this murder is brain racking enough for us, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes sis," Mia smiled at her "but that's one game I'm more than not willing to play in the future."

Daniel Reagan and John Briscoe were entering their lobby as they overheard their conversation "That's the perfect way to handle it, Mia, just take whatever victory you can and run with it," Briscoe said as he offered her a friendly hug.

"Says the detective who's just as happy to put away another Varnello behind bars, huh Briscoe?" Reagan quipped while earning a quick shoulder jab from his partner in the process.

"Oh stop it, Reagan, I told you I was smelling a rat and that rat was a Varnello."

"But still," Powers began to speak "It's sad that Mr. Hammer stole my costume and wanted to kill Ms. Varnello...but why would he want to frame for the murder?"

"Guess Bill Hammer was a huge mentor to you?" Mia asked curiously before looking to Phoenix "Why don't you answer for him?"

For a while Phoenix was trying to recoup from the curveball his partner threw at him...a habit that has been getting very frequent with them. Mia would have a good answer to a complicated question asked by a witness but would always look at Phoenix to give the answer. He admitted that this practice was needed for him, he just had a big problem of having Mia getting to him in a very rude sense. 'We're going to have to have a chat about these pop questions." Phoenix thought to himself as he began to unscramble the motive behind the crime. By the time, the only answer he could give to Powers' question came to him as he looked at the picture of Bill Hammer in the Steel Samurai costume at his costume.

He began to show that picture to Robert as he explained "It's because you were playing a role that he used to be."

"A role that he used to be?" Rob repeated curiously.

"Of course," Phoenix continued "Mr. Hammer was a big star back then, but because of a fatal accident, he was reduced to acting in a children's show...and as the villain to boot."

Maya knew where Phoenix was going with this theory and she added her two cents. "Because children like Cody Rojas loved the Steel Samurai with a passion, Bill Hammer looked at that passion and hated you for it...he thought that by killing Joan Varnello he would have a chance at regaining his glory."

At that point, it didn't take much for Robert Powers to absorb this information. "There's no way that I could've switched roles with him if he said something could he?"

Phoenix shook his head and said "I'm afraid not...and as you know they're still thinking about canceling the Steel Samurai, think of it this way, you look like you're ready to move your career forward and if you ever get that big break, you can be more than thankful that Bill Hammer got you there and you can act in his honor. If nothing else, you can be the guy that will continue Bill Hammer's legacy of action movies."

For a while, Robert thought about Phoenix's revelation in terms of his future in acting. Prior to this incident happening, he always looked to Bill Hammer as an idol in the movie business, the very reason why he wanted to be an actor in the first place. By the time Robert actually got the job of playing the Steel Samurai, Bill Hammer was actually a very nice man and became a good mentor to the young actor, almost like a big brother and little brother relationship...a relationship that Powers himself cherished. When the incident happened and the underlying cause of it began to be uncovered by both the detectives and the attorneys, his feelings for Bill Hammer really didn't waver at all, even now he felt nothing but sympathy to his mentor. So after thinking about Phoenix's words about how he could be the real successor of what Bill Hammer was in his prime, his smile not only returned...but grew wider as a result.

"You're right," Robert said in happiness. "The only reason why I became an actor, was because I too was an admirer of Bill Hammer's work and even now I really don't feel any hate for him...he's going to need someone to carry on his legacy and every time he hung out with me, it felt like Hammer became my big brother and I'm going to take that relationship and use it in my acting roles...again thank you very much, Fey and Wright I wish there was a way I can keep you guys as my personal attorneys."

Mia replied this time "Believe us, we would love to be your personal representatives in your career...but our real job is with defending the innocent and bringing justice to the dead."

"After the exceptional job you guys did, the least I want to do is give you a bonus for the job you've done for us," Powers replied. "At least give you guys leverage in your new law office."

But as Robert began to offer his reward, the group was suddenly struck silent by a familiar figure entering the defendant's lobby and stood right behind Robert Powers. When he began to ask what was wrong it was Maya who replied "N-no! U-um nothing's wrong...right, sis?"

But Mia wouldn't hide what she saw standing behind Robert Powers. "What are you doing here, Edgeworth?"

Robert then turned his body to see one Miles Edgeworth wearing the same stoic look that he usually carried in the court room, his gaze was very intent at Phoenix Wright who returned said gaze with a stoic look of his own. They locked eyes for a good thirty seconds before Edgeworth began to say to Phoenix that he didn't like small talk.

"Why?" Phoenix asked at first, all the while his voice began to sound very distant.

"Why what, Wright?" Edgeworth replied.

"...Why have you been helping us in this case?"

"You don't hesitate to get to the point do you, Wright?" Edgeworth gave no sense of amusement "...Because I wanted to make a form of an apology in regards to my behavior in the Bluecorp Incident."

"Miles Edgeworth apologizing for something? Now I've heard everything." Phoenix quipped.

"Yes I know it's out of the ordinary, Wright, but I almost let Redd White continue his crimes against the children in third world countries because I didn't let you or Ms. Fey stop him," Edgeworth made a brief glance at Mia who was stood behind Phoenix but mostly kept his gaze at the latter. "By allowing the detectives to work with you in this case, it ultimately led me to my greatest victory as a prosecutor."

"Varnello?" Phoenix asked as if checking the time. "To be honest with you, had she not plead guilty to this murder, I wouldn't have done well with cross-examining her."

Edgeworth pondered on that possibility for a few seconds, "I think you would've succeeded...but then again I probably would've been the one to save your butt in the process."

He finally turned his gaze to Robert, who kept his attention to the two attorneys keeping their eyes locked "May I just say, I'm a big fan of your work, Mr. Powers, been watching your show since it first came out."

"O-oh well...thank you very much, Mr. Edgeworth," Robert replied while the prosecutor went back to Phoenix.

"If I may be honest with you about something, Wright...I hadn't expected to meet you again after all these years."

It was Maya who spoke next "Meet 'again'?"

But Edgeworth ignored her "In retrospect, it would've been better had we not met," then he broke his gaze away from Wright, "since crossing paths with you, I am saddled with unnecessary...feelings."

"Well aren't those kind of necessary?" Phoenix asked curiously.

"They only serve to get in my way and my job," when Edgeworth looked at Wright again he glared "I don't ever want you showing your face in front of me again, do you understand?"

But Phoenix wouldn't give his answer because Edgeworth was taking his leave from the lobby, leaving the remaining people in the lobby silently flabbergasted.

Finally Briscoe asked "You guys are neck and neck in your age group, why do I get the feeling he has a past with you?"

It made Phoenix remember something as he turned to his partner, "I think I still owe you a drink, Chief, shall we have one tonight?"

Mia began to realize what Nick was thinking about, both she and Phoenix silently thought about his first case in the courtroom, how he defended a childhood friend. To Mia's theory, prosecutor Miles Edgeworth was also a connection in her partner's past.

"Yeah I think you do owe me a drink, Phoenix," Mia replied finally but began to realize something. "But we'll have to take another raincheck on it."

"Huh? But why?" Phoenix asked in a bout of shock.

Mia could only grin as she looked at John's direction, "Because my dear student, John and I scored eight tickets to a concert at the Staples Center for next Saturday."

Now John began to be shocked at the realization, "Oh yeah that's right, I completely forgot," and so John began his explanation "A week after the Bluecorp crap was over and done with, I found out that a singer Mia and I had mutually liked was coming to the Staples Center and thankfully we were able to get those eight tickets for two different dates before they sold out like hot cakes."

That piqued Nick's curiosity, "Who's the singer?"

"Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood," Mia and John replied in unison.

Maya lifted her eye-brows in amazement, "You got tickets for them?!"

"Thirty minutes before they even went on sale, sis, we would like you and Phoenix to join us," Mia replied looking at her sister with a grin.

Naturally Maya was excited about this news because like Mia and John, she had taken an interest in the music of Garth Brooks and his wife Trisha Yearwood like her sister had been interested, but unknown to the trio who liked those two singers, one person was very confused and he had to ask.

"Umm...who are Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood?" Phoenix asked innocently.

Automatically Phoenix began to feel small for asking that question as John, Mia, and Maya looked at him with shock across their faces. But when Mia looked at him and found out he really had no idea, she took his hand in sympathy. "When we get back to the office, you and I will listen to his CD's together."

With that said, the foursome exited the courtroom and made the trip back to the offices of Fey and Wright.

Flashback to an incident from spring 2001

He was nine years old and in the fourth grade and back in his day, he was alone to the point where he didn't have a single friend. Who would want to be friends with one of the rarest examples of a boy completely orphaned from birth and being raised by two godparents who loved him...all because drinking and driving killed his parents and they didn't drink. "Don't be friends with that boy," that small town said about him "he is a by-product of a family that drank their selves to death, you hang around him, and you'll get a case of the drunks."

In an age where most kids rarely listened to parental reasoning, the children of that town not only hung on to every word but they take it one step further and pick on him for not having a real mommy or daddy and that his godparents were just temporary replacements until they got drunk. No one wanted to be friends with him, they all looked at him like he was a mere punching bag. That same punching bag almost got torn in half on the day that it happened.

Every month, the children had to bring envelopes, with money from their parents, to school to cover cafeteria lunches and apparently one of those envelopes was stolen during a P.E. Class. Both Phoenix Wright and his eventual friend, Larry Butz were coming down with a cold so they had to skip class that day. Problem was since the envelope was stolen during the time of that class, the entire classroom that Phoenix belonged to thought he did it. The accusation was so high in tension that it was unanimously agreed by the children that he should be put in a classroom trial.

"I...I didn't do it!" Phoenix said in a near scream.

But every child in the classroom kept screaming "Guilty! He did it!"

"Guilty! It was you!"

"Thief!"

"Give me my money back!"

"You're such a meanie!"

"Did your 'mommy' tell you to steal that money?"

"Just admit you did it!'

"You can't hide the truth!"

"Tell us the truth!"

"We're not going to play with you anymore!"

"Yeah, and no borrowing my eraser!

"He shouldn't be allowed in the relay race!"

"Or on the library committee!"

"Give me back the 50 cents I loaned you!"

"Hey, did you rob that bank the other day?"

Like mentioned before, a lot of those children were just as cruel to him as they were prior to this incident, but what Phoenix didn't count on was the teacher siding with those children. "Now, Phoenix, you know you shouldn't steal people's money! It's not right."

That would've been the straw that broke the camel's back for that little boy, he had felt very alone since the day he was born, and no one really loved him except his godparents who adopted him. But now even they couldn't help out his depression, he felt like he was at the end of his rope. He couldn't stop crying at this point but when he tried to make his way to the victim of that stolen envelope in order to apologize, he sure as hell didn't count on that one word that would eventually save his life.

"OBJECTION!" Came the yell of the boy sitting at that desk. He wore a purple suit that fit perfectly for a child and his neck was wrapped around a red bowtie. Even as a kid he had dark gray hair and it was combed in the same style that he still uses to this day.

After calming his voice down a bit, he still kept it loud enough for the entire classroom to have their attention on him, he began to speak "He shouldn't have to apologize, the only thing that belongs in a trial is evidence, anything else has no place, you should all be ashamed... amateurs!"

At that point the teacher was more surprised at him coming to Phoenix's defense "M-Miles?"

"Look, Mr. Wright, it wasn't you who stole my money, was it?"

"...No..." was all Phoenix could say after being so shocked at Miles coming to his defense.

"Then you shouldn't apologize," Edgeworth said and raised his voice again, "Your honor, this court lacks the necessary proof to convict this boy of any wrongdoing, therefore he should be declared not guilty by this court."

"B-but Miles," the teacher began to say still shaken up over Miles coming to Nick's defense, "it was your money that was stolen!"

Even the classroom wanted to agree with the teacher and they all thought that yelling at Edgeworth would make them win:

"Yeah!"

"He did it! He's the one!"

"We don't need proof!"

"Make him say he's sorry!"

But out of nowhere, another yell came from another desk opposite of where Edgeworth's was, "Why don't you all just shut up!"

That voice in particular belonged to a boy in a white tank, brown shorts, white shoes, wore a Band-Aid on his right leg, and his brown spiky hair would be used many years later. "This is always how it is with all of you and him, picking on him for no reason over his tragic circumstances and not taking into consideration that your accusations are practically killing him. He said he didn't do it; Miles said it himself that you need evidence to say otherwise, but seeing as how there's none appearing in this classroom, maybe it's best that all of you just shut up, chill out, and leave him alone for once."

And the funny thing was, Larry's short speech did make everyone shut up, to the point where you could hear a pin drop...and for good reason. If there was one thing that you didn't do in a small town, it was pick on the child of the mayor, if you did, you better get ready for a major ass chew. So for Larry Butz to come into the defense of Phoenix, it was the equivalent to getting a pardon if you were in a real jail cell, and to that point the teacher in the classroom didn't want to make any further argument in this matter. In the end, she promised Edgeworth that she would replace the money herself and ordered everyone in the classroom to take their seats...which they did but not without some silent grumbling among themselves.


	12. Chapter 12

December 23, 9:35 P.M. Apartment of John Briscoe

Murder was what made him miss a dinner date that should've began two hours ago, but being a murder cop and dealing with death knew no time nor dinner date. Seeing how the call came to him at five minutes before the end of his shift, it made him had to call and do a last minute cancellation at the Italian restaurant that he made a reservation with two weeks prior. The only good thing that came out of it, was how quick he was able to close it as soon as he caught it, a simple confession of intentional food poisoning and he was able to close it in a full one and a half hour.

The murder confession he dealt with, still left him a little dumb founded when he came back to his apartment, it still played on his mind enough to have him not notice the sound of running water going on in his bathroom until he took off his blue suit jacket and black tie. As a cop, he had enough sense to have tight security in his place, to prevent the off chance of him being killed by a psycho cop killer or an old enemy out for revenge. Only two people he trusted to share his keys and security codes were that of his new partner and the only one of his many lovers.

Opening up his bathroom door, it pleased him to see Mia Fey bathing her body in the hot shower. Naked, wet and from Briscoe's view, she was beautiful, the water stripped away her make-up and to his mind, she looked beautiful.

"You know the city is still dealing with a drought problem," Briscoe quipped. "I'd hate to think of you just wasting water for shower sex."

Mia smiled and turned herself around, she was still rubbing her body with his bodywash because it smelled like him. "I just got here like five minutes ago after I picked up your dinner."

"I cannot tell you how sorry I am for having to cancel on you tonight, I had that table booked for like six weeks and this shit happens," John proceeded to strip off the rest of his suit to join his lover in the shower.

"It's nothing to fret over, darling, it's not the first time we had to cancel a pre-Christmas date," Mia washed some soap from her body before allowing some room for John to enter.

"Then again the last time that happened was supposed to be the first date from two years ago, I swear the life of a cop can be just a big pain in the ass," he felt his back being pressed on by Mia's gentle hands as she effortlessly worked on some knots on his back.

"Perhaps you can tell me what happened in your case and let it out or..." Mia pressed butterfly kisses on John's neck while trailing her hands down his decent sized manhood. "Perhaps we can work your anger out in a more productive way."

Two years they shared their beds together and John still didn't know how Mia could just get him going with just a few back rubs and simple stroke of his inner thigh. But then again, there were things about her that he would never be able figure out for the life of him, sometimes it was just best to roll with the flow and live life to the fullest.

So nothing really needed to be said tonight as John kissed Mia on the mouth as a way to tell her that he wanted to shut off the world and just focus on her and what she was always willing to offer; An offer that he never took for granted.

December 23, 10:00 P.M. Apartment of Phoenix Wright

While Mia Fey and Johnathan Briscoe had resumed their casual friends with benefits fling, another apartment across town had Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey in a more intimate setting. Candle lights were lit around his bedroom like gold shined at Fort Knox, but even that paled in comparison to the Ace Attorney looking at his young lady-love and how her eyes showed nothing but love for him. No words were needed tonight as Phoenix leaned in to kiss her, take in the sensation of gentle hands rubbing against his athletic back. His warm, muscular body snuggled against Maya's soft body, sweaty and smooth, he kissed her neck and behind her ears, his tongue tasted sweet flesh.

"Do you trust me?" Phoenix asked in a soft whisper which left a shiver on her body.

They've made love in the past, as soon as Phoenix was medically cleared from his injuries, was the day when they had their first time together. But in times since then, he always went back into asking that question. Maya knew why he did, it was because she was still a teenager, considerably younger than her twenty-four year old counterpart. But the love she had for him swamped her, the wonderful mixture of affection and love he held in his eyes made her realize at seventeen years old, that love didn't know age.

Her pulse raced but she gently leaned up and met Phoenix's lips in a gentle kiss that poured everything she felt. "There's no one I trust more than you, watashi no koi."

Her declaration of love in her native Japanese had heated his heart up considerably, he gave her pussy a gentle rub before reaching for the condom packet that laid on his nightstand, opening it up without much struggle and slipped it on like a glove. Gently he lined himself to her wet entrance, earning a soft sigh from his lady love, there was no need, nor want to speed their love making right now. But they gently moved together in a tangle of love and white sheets.

"You're my man, Phoenix," she sighed in the middle of his thrusts feeling the sensations wash over him like a car heater.

"You're my woman, Maya," he whispered before giving her kisses on her cheek, feeling her breath on his face and taking it as a sign for him to give her more force.

He eventually did increase his pace, but tempered himself so he wouldn't hurt her. This woman was a treasure to him and he needed to treat her the way any real man would. Only when she begged for more did he give it to her as her moans increased in a fit of passion, the pace ultimately made both of them peak as Maya let out a borderline scream of passion, while Phoenix grunted as he emptied himself on the condom.

Maya collapsed beneath her, while breathing hard and fast, her mouth was borderline dry. But like a gentleman, Phoenix reached for the glass of water on his nightstand and offered it to her to drink. With a gentle smile on her face, Maya accepted the glass with her hand on his to keep it steady and prevent it from spilling on the bed.

"If every woman knew how big a gentleman you were, they would be so jealous of me right now," Maya said while Phoenix put the empty glass back on the nightstand.

"Let them be jealous, tonight, I have a woman in my arms who is so beautiful that could make men jealous of me." Phoenix proceeded to get both of them in a more comfortable position of laying on their sides with her head on his chest.

"You and I lost a whole lot in our short lives, which is why I desire to treat you like a sacred treasure," Phoenix looked into his lover's eyes with soft intensity. "It had been a long time since anyone had touched me the way you did, the way your hands on that wash cloth had saved me from death, tonight I thank you again for saving my life."

She was able to hear those words from him as she grew tired, but before she drifted off to sleep, she murmured, "We saved each other."

With that single whispered sentence, they both drifted into a gentle sleep.

December 24th Gourd Lake

Sometimes people had a tendency to work night shifts, or take long walks in the evening, some took advantage of the world falling asleep while secret meetings would be held. For two people in a lone boat, it was the first step to the end of the road.

"It's been, what, 15 years?" said man number one.

"About that, yes," replied man number two.

"15 years is a long time to wait..." man number one then spoke with a angry snarl. "You can't imagine how much I've suffered."

"You...suffered?" the other man replied in a bout of genuine shock.

"And now..." man number one drew out a gun from the pocket of his long over coat. "The perfect opportunity presents itself, I shall have my revenge at last!"

"What!?" exclaimed the second man as he saw the gun being pointed at him or...so he thought.

"...Merry Christmas." was the last words said as three shots were fired, followed by a splash in the lake. Stunned speechless, the second man didn't notice the ghostly figure watching him pick up the pistol that was left by the boat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the most recent chapter I was able to publish and even though I'm still trying to finish it, I've been dealing with a very tough block and I've been trying to look for people who can help me finish this thing. I'm open to anyone that's interested in helping and hope to hear from you soon.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: So I'm actually still dealing with a writer's block at the moment but I did manage to carve out this scene a few months ago, this scene was easy to pull off because of how often I visualized it in my head. This is just an attempt to let you folks know that I haven't given up on the story, but I've also been leaning towards just canceling out plans to remake Turnabout Goodbyes into this story, because if I were to take out the humor that was the present in the game, the same case would essentially be playing in my head. Rise from the Ashes on the other hand, I've been having ideas still playing in my head on how I wanna make it different. So with that said, this scene will probably be all that you will get for Turnabout Goodbyes because I don't know where to go with it. Hope you'll enjoy it and hope you're having a good day.

Standard Disclaimers Apply

Phoenix didn't expect the after party to last all night the way it did, if anything he expected to just have maybe three to four drinks and then call a cab back home with just him and his lady love. Sure he may have been able to make it home safe, but he came home so drunk that he didn't even have the energy to have celebratory sex with Maya the way he promised her that night.

It had been five o'clock in the morning that he woke up with the intention to reach for her side of the bed, but instead found a cold sheet which alerted him in a finger snap. Phoenix turned on his bedside lamp to see a note on the pillow, which laid underneath a simple red rose. Instinctively, Phoenix picked up that note along with the red rose. There had been signs of tear stains on the note but he was still able to see what she had read:

Beloved Phoenix Wright,

By the time you have waken up and read this, I will have taken the early morning train back to the Kurain Mountains with the intention to continue my training. I felt that I have failed Mia, Edgeworth, Briscoe, Reagan, but most importantly, I felt that I had failed you. I meant to tell you last night, but I could not ruin the celebrations that we were having and I didn't want to argue with you either.

With me going back to my training, I know I will come back a full-fledged medium and will do everything in my power to make you and my sister proud. I also know that there's no doubt in my mind that you will wait for me to return, for I see it in your eyes and your heart, that you want to stay with me, to grow old with me and to start a family with me. And in truth I want it with you too, that's why I must leave you for now so I can grow up to be your equal, to grow up to be the woman I want to be for you.

Know that I love you with all my heart and I promise that even though many will try, they will know that same heart belongs to no one but you.

XOXO

Maya Fey

It only took Phoenix a few seconds to get himself dressed, this time with just a long white shirt and blue jeans with tennis shoes. He immediately reached for his cellphone to dial Mia's number.

"I imagine that this is important?" Mia asked with some grogginess.

"Maya might still be at the train station, Chief," Phoenix said as he grabbed his personal car keys. "You gotta meet me over there at once."

That got Mia on high alert, "Why would she be at the train station?"

Technically Phoenix still hadn't told his partner about the relationship that he had started with Maya, but he didn't have time to hide it now, so he told her the truth about the letter that was left on the pillow. It would take Mia a while to grasp at what was just told to her but knew she had to put it away for now, for the sake of not wasting time.

"For the record, I'm not mad at you, Phoenix. But I still want to have a discussion about this at some point."

Phoenix agreed to have that discussion with her as he hung up his phone and put it back in his pocket. Neither Fey nor Wright knew the outcome of what might happen, whether they would convince Maya to stay. But in case they didn't, they at least wanted to give her a proper goodbye before she left.

Both Phoenix and Mia arrived at the train station almost simultaneously, to the point of parking side by side each other in their respective cars. They were even in line with their steps as they made a brisk pace to the designated train that would be going straight to the Kurain Mountains. But when they got to the train that was still loading passengers, they didn't see Maya anywhere.

"We're too late, Phoenix," Mia said in a light huff. "She's gone."

"Well at least we know she was definite in her decision." Phoenix began to turn around to look for a bench. It gave him a slight shock to see Maya standing right in front of him.

"Nick...sis."

It was Mia's turn to move her head around and look at her sister, standing in front of them with her traditional spirit medium robes and a simple rolling suitcase. It was only a full minute, but it felt that time stood still as they gazed at each other.

"So..." it was Phoenix who decided to speak up first. "There's no convincing you to stay?"

Maya gave her lover a slight nod, "What good is a spirit medium, when I can't even talk to a spirit? I felt nothing but useless throughout this whole entire case."

"You're wrong, sister!" It wasn't exactly a yell from Mia but it was still loud enough to get Phoenix and Maya's attention, she soon lowered her voice to a more in-door level. "If anything, you were a saving grace in helping us solve the DL-6 Incident."

To prove her point, she dug out her phone and accessed the Court Records app and found the lone bullet that was recovered during the DL-6 Incident. The same bullet that eventually brought Manfred Von Karma down. Mia presented the said bullet to her little sister, making no effort to hide the pride on her face.

"von Karma was more than convinced that he had taken every piece of evidence pertaining to the DL-6 Incident," Mia let her sister hold the smartphone at the palm of her hands. "Because of you body blocking Phoenix from von Karma, you were able to save the last piece of evidence that we needed to save Edgeworth...you saved the case, Maya."

Maya took a good hard look at her big sisters cell phone and actually began to feel warm inside at the fact that even with her own rookie flaws, Mia was still able to find a silver lining for her, especially since technically Maya knew she was telling the truth. It did put some additional weight on whether or not she wanted to change her mind and stay with her sister and the man she loved. But even then it outweighed the fact that, her two great loves had already achieved their dreams and were already living their lives. She wanted her own dream life as well, she wanted to become intellectual equals with her sister and her boyfriend. So when she heard the intercom say that the train was beginning departure in five minutes, her decision had been finalized.

"I'll come back to you, sister," with a wet smile, she handed Mia's phone back to the palm of her hands. "I'll keep that promise in my heart."

Mia began to nod as she put her phone back in her pocket without protest, she was about to reply before Phoenix began to say something.

"Well if you're going to go away, Maya..." Phoenix began to move closer to Maya's space before turning his head back to look at Mia. "Chief, there's something that you need to know about Maya and me."

The next thing Maya knew, she was drawn into a kiss that was warm, deep, tender and full of love. There had been some discussion between the two lovers on when would be a good time for them to come out in their relationship to Mia. But to Phoenix, if there was any a good time to do that coming out, it had to be now. He had to send his boss a message that he was in love with her younger sister, the young woman who woken him up to love that he had originally buried a few years ago.

He eventually parted his lips from her to give her room to get ready for the train. Nothing more needed to be said as Maya picked up her suitcase and entered her train with a tearful smile as she looked back at her two loves one last time while the door closed. Phoenix Wright had absently followed her to the train car and stopped short of the sliding doors closing between them, he gently placed his palm on the window screen while Maya did the same with her hand. It was their silent way of telling each other 'I love you' and 'I'll wait for you'.

Eventually the train had began to leave the station and Phoenix turned his head to look at his boss, throughout the entire scene being played out with her partner kissing her sister and silently declaring their love for each other, it left Mia completely speechless at first. But her heart told her to stay out of the way and to trust that Phoenix would at least have a conversation about this.

"If you'll pay for breakfast, I'll explain everything for you," was what Phoenix began to say to her.

"Actually Nick, I had a very strong feeling there was something up between you two," Mia replied as she began her way to the station exit. "But yes, I do want us to have a talk about this and go from there."


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The prologue to what will potentially be the most dramatic case in all of the Fey and Wright Universe.

The final countdown to his death started when he turned down his old partner for asking his help again. Originally he thought that there was nothing he could do with what happened two years ago. He was originally prepared to let it go and to carry his failure to his grave, he didn't know it would be happening sooner. But he had that itch come to him and was prepared to do something about it when he noticed his ID card was missing.  He went through the proper channels by filing a lost item report with his killer. The final minutes of his life began ticking when both he and his killer went to his room of impending doom.

"What are you talking about-?" The killer asked

"We can't transfer the evidence out," the man replied. "There's too many questions left unanswered."

It left his killer completely startled that he would make such a request, but at his employee's insistence he took said evidence out of the locker it belonged to and that's when it happened.

The detective did not notice the knife coming for a second when it struck him in the chest, he looked up to see the eyes of his killer and saw the truth. The past two years had been full of unanswered questions and looking at his killer he knew some of the answers now and he also knew that he would not live to tell the whole world.


	15. Chapter 14.2

**Disclaimer: The following chapter will have references to characters that have appeared in other forms of fiction. Perry Mason was created by Erle Stanley Gardner and Ben Matlock was created Dean Hargrove. I claim no permission from either property holder of those characters. All other disclaimers apply.**

A few weeks after Maya departed The Law Offices of Fey and Wright, the two attorneys had received in the mail a formal invitation from The American Trial Lawyers Association, letting the pair know that they were chosen as recipients of the legendary Perry Mason/Ben Matlock Memorial Award for their work on the Bluecorp Incident. The awards namesakes belonged to two of the most legendary defense attorneys in the criminal justice system. They stuck up for the innocent when things looked bad enough for a wrongful conviction to the point where they had their share of violent run-ins in the course of their careers. Perry Mason had passed away back in 1995 leaving behind a widow named Della Street Mason, who used to be her secretary. Ben Matlock died in 2012 leaving a behind a daughter who was still running her own law firm in Philadelphia. The award was created while Matlock was still alive and with his consent, calling it a humbling and kind honor.

Their work in uncovering a high profile scandal was still generating buzz for the fledgling law firm to the point where they were becoming a magnet for potential new clients. Right now, their focus was on them attending the dinner that was included with receiving the award. The pair was attending this dinner at the ballroom of the Gatewater Hotel and Mia was looking over a speech that she wrote for this occasion, already deciding to be the main speaker of this award, because of her personal and emotional investment in this case.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, without any further ado," said the speaker of the ATLA at the podium which laid at the center of two large tables (think White House Correspondence Dinner). "I proudly present to you, one of the first co-recipients of the coveted Perry Mason/Ben Matlock Award, Mia Fey of The Law Offices of Fey and Wright."

The crowd in the hotel ballroom, consisted of multiple prominent attorneys who had practices all around the country and at one time knew Mia's old boss Samuel Rosenburg. Political figures from both ideals, either still active in their respective offices or had long since retired, were also in attendance because if there was one thing that was equally hated, it was child trafficking. They all broke in a round of applause with a standing ovation, Mia took her place at the podium while they continued to applaud for her.

The applause continued for two minutes before the audience continued to sit down, which gave Mia an opening to start her speech:

**Thank you ladies and gentlemen, first off it's an honor and a privilege to accept this coveted award named after two people who were revolutionary in criminal defense. I also speak on behalf of my senior partner Phoenix Wright, that we humbly thank you for considering this new law firm as recipients of this award. For those that don't know, the entire Bluecorp incident has been very personal for me, I came from a simple family who have extraordinary gifts, a lot of us in my family communicate with the dead and my mother Misty Fey was called on by the LAPD to help solve the murder of the late Gregory Edgeworth, father of Miles Edgeworth, who I'm sure many of you know of our involvement in the closure of that case. My mother tried her best to help the police in giving both Gregory and Miles justice but had ended framing the wrong man.**

**My reason for going after Bluecorp was because they wrongly outed my mother as a fraud and my involvement was mostly out of revenge for making her disappear when both me and my sister were still at our tender years. I was growing into my teenage years and back then I knew how to handle responsibility for the caring of Maya, but a little girl needed a mother more than she needed a sister and Bluecorp took that away from me. So fast forward a few years, in between caring for my sister and spending late nights studying to be an attorney, I graduated from the Themis Legal Academy and soon became an attorney under Samuel Rosenberg.**

**Before I continue, I need you to know that I have long since made peace with Rosenberg not long after uncovering this incident and for awhile he was a very nurturing mentor and a father figure for me. But I also had a very bitter falling out with him when I found about his role in my mothers disappearance, but even then he never stopped thinking about me and my safety, especially after I had escaped being murdered by Redd White because of how close I was to outing him to the public. In the end, even though I had lost Samuel Rosenberg to Redd White, I can still feel his comforting presence when I walk into the courtroom with Phoenix. His spirit alone was what brought down Manfred von Karma as Gregory's murderer so aside from me dedicating this award to Rosenberg, I also accept this award on behalf of all the children who were victims to Bluecorp's trafficking, I'm happy to say that all of them had been reunited with their families all safe and sound. To top it all of, they are all receiving great medical and psychlogical treatment and even though they will never get over being victims of forced prostitution, my gut tells me they will grow up to become productive members of society and will hopefully become role models for other victims.**

**With that said, The Law Offices of Fey and Wright will proudly accept this award with the knowledge that we will continue fighting for the right of due process, the right to be innocent until proven guilty and above all else we will continue to fight for people who have no one else to turn to. We are The Law Offices of Fey and Wright and together we don't want to be just your attorneys, we want to be your friends.**

You couldn't hear a pin drop when the crowd at the Gatewater Hotel had erupted into thunderous applause.


	16. Chapter 16

**February 22 10:02 AM The Law Offices of Fey and Wright**

To Phoenix Wright, it felt a tad disconcerting to receive such a prestigious award as the Perry Mason/Ben Matlock award at such an early stage in his law career. He had figured he would at least be recognized for an award at least at ten years later in his career. But he ultimately chose to accept the award with a measure of gratitude because of how much it meant to his partner, Mia Fey.

'If only she were here to join the festivities with me.' Phoenix thought of his lover and Mia's little sister, Maya. It did give him warm thoughts to know that she would've been very proud of both of them. Proud enough to where she would've sat by his side at that fancy dinner table. He was originally making his way to their shared office, when after opening the door, had come across a girl who looked like 16 years old, pacing around the beautifully furnished office of Phoenix Wright and Mia Fey.

"Umm...excuse me," Phoenix spoke to distract her from gazing at Mia's desk. "Can I help you?"

"There you are finally!" The girl said after taking a few seconds to look at Phoenix. "My sister's trial is tomorrow!"

Phoenix continued to stare at her with a blank look, "Umm...who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who I am!" she answered. "It only matters who YOU are!"

And then she said it, "You're the famous defense attorney, Mia Fey!"

Just then, the office door opened up and Mia walked in, "Hey Phoenix who are you talking to?"

"Apparently this girl was looking for you and thought I was pretty enough to be you," was his reply.

Mia let out a light chuckle at his answer, but then she saw the girl in front of Phoenix. Her hair was styled similarly to Maya's, same height and build as hers. But the difference was that their clothing was radically different. This girl was wearing a lab coat underneath she wore a traditional schoolgirl uniform. Her said lab coat contained three badges, one large surprised face with two smaller angry faces, it was made to resemble H20. Her two other possesions included red lens glasses and a large tote bag full of scientific equipment. Recognition began to struck Mia after studying this girl.

"Ema..." was Mia's first word out of her mouth. "Ema Skye."

She made a light jog past Phoenix to give Ema a hug, which the little girl returned enthusiastically.

"Phoenix, this is Ema Skye," Mia said after finishing her hug. "She's the younger sister of my law school classmate and oldest friend, Lana Skye."

It then hit Phoenix with realization, "The Chief Prosecutor?"

Ema nodded at Phoenix before turning to Mia with a hit of sadness. Mia took notice of her sadness and asked her what's wrong.

"She was arrested on suspicion of murder," Ema began to explain. "Her trial is tomorrow but she doesn't want legal representation."

"She's trying to represent herself?" Mia asked.

"No," Ema replied with a sad rage brewing. "She's planning to plead guilty...but I know she didn't do it!"

***

At that moment, Mia wrapped her arms tighter around Ema to help calm her down. At Phoenix's suggestion, the three decided to sit on the two couches they provided for potental clients.

"So let's start at the beginning Ms. Skye," Phoenix said after pouring some coffee into two cups for him and Mia. "For starters, you'll have to excuse me for being stupid, but can you tell me about yourself?"

Ema herself accepted a bottle of chocolate milk from Phoenix's fridge, "Well even though I'm set to be sixteen next month, as you can tell by the clothes I'm wearing, I'm training to be a forensics expert."

"She's actually proving herself to be a child prodigy, Phoenix," Mia cut in. "Although she's in the 11th grade, she's already making some noise in the cop world."

To Phoenix's mind, it was already impressive that this girl was sixteen years old but already on track to be a senior by seventeen. He didn't become a senior until his 18th birthday and had graduated by nineteen. 'But that's another conversation for another time,' Nick thought.

"Chief," Nick turned his head toward Mia, who was sitting beside Ema. "What kind of association do you have with Ema, here?"

"A few years before I passed the bar exam, Lana was top of her class," Mia replied before taking a sip of coffee. "Back in the day, I was very headstrong to become an attorney, when I heard of this student, who was a few years my senior, on track to graduate with honors, I persuaded her and she eventually accepted to become my tutor even after she graduated from the Themis Law Academy."

"Didn't know you went to the same school like I did," Phoenix remarked while drinking his own coffee before turning back to Ema. "So your sister is being held on suspicion of murder and they're already setting the trial for tomorrow?"

Ema nodded, "It's because she's planning to plead guilty tomorrow. I don't believe she did it, I don't care that they had a witness or video footage. There were a lot of errors being committed at the crime scene for the evidence to even be concrete."

For two brief minutes, Phoenix and Mia gave each other a look of contemplation. They mutually thought that there was more to this case than what Ema was able to tell them. There was definitely a number of questions that were running through their heads but with a silent nod, the two attorneys got up and reached for their winter coats, much to Ema's hopeful optimism.

"We will talk with your older sister and see where we go from there," Nick said to Ema as he and Mia made their way to exiting the office for Mia's car.

***

**February 22 Detention Center Visitor's Room**

The attorney's noticed how quiet Ema had gotten when they entered the detention center visitor's room. They also noticed that the guard who usually stood still as a statue, was actually shivering with nervousness while being chewed out by the sharply dressed Chief Prosecutor: Lana Skye.

Even though she was a Chief Prosecutor, she preferred to wear her dress blues from her days of being one of the top detectives for the LAPD two years ago. Even though she wore a stoic look on her face, there was no hiding the anger in her voice.

“I specifically told you, I didn't want visitors.”

“S-s-s-sorry, ma'am! It's j-j-just, your sister...” the guard tried to reply in between his nervousness.

“NO EXCUSES!” Lana raised her voice. “Or did you not want an annual raise this year?”

“My apologies, ma'am!”

Mia having just taken her coat off and sitting down on the chair opposite the viewing glass, was actually pretty annoyed at the behavior her old friend just displayed.

“You know I can understand you being sour because of being in jail, but that was a bullshit display of unprofessional behavior.”

Lana attempted to ignore Mia's remark, instead directed her glare at her younger sister, “I seem to remember specifically telling YOU not to come here.”

But Mia wouldn't have it, “You're not going to take this out on her, Lana!” she pounded her hands at the visitors glass making the other women flinch a bit.

“Last I checked, I'm the blood sister to her, not you!” Lana snapped back. “Perhaps my memory is failing, or perhaps you're trying to make attempts to adopt her?”

“Oh if you were on the other side of that glass, I would so beat the living shit out of you for that remark.” Mia replied with a snarl.

That was when Phoenix had to come in between the two ladies to stop this screaming match between the two, especially since he began to notice that Ema was starting to tear up over Lana's harmful remarks.

“Alright Chief, either you calm yourself down or you can take Ema outside while I talk to Lana.”

Mia was still full of anger over her old friends attitude had begrudgingly admitted that Phoenix was right. And to her credit, she knew if there was a neutral party that could give an adult stake in the case, it would be her senior partner. So she silently agreed to take Ema outside and wait at her car while Phoenix proceeded to talk to Lana.

After the two girls left, Phoenix began to sit down after taking out his smart phone to access the voice recorder app.

“So from what your sister told us, you are planning to confess to the crime that you're being held for.”

“That is correct, Mr. Wright.”

“Well before you do any confessing in court tomorrow, I do want to hear exactly what happened.”

And so began Lana's explanation of what happened at the Prosecutor's Office, apparently the crime occurred at a specific time of February 21st 5:15 P.M. Right around the time when Phoenix and Mia had accepted the Perry Mason/Ben Matlock Memorial Award. There had been a witness, who had seen her stab victim Detective Joe Goodman in the chest. The most shocking thing that Lana told Phoenix was that the victim had been found in the trunk of Miles Edgeworth's car. Phoenix sat through her explanations with thoughts running through his mind that this would be the most complicated case that he would potentially work with since the Bluecorp Incident.

Deciding to change the subject, Phoenix began to ask “So you were three years ahead of Mia at the Themis Law Academy weren't you?”

Lana nodded, “She was considerably different than the other students, she was focused, dedicated. It was as if she was on a personal mission in addition to being certified to be an attorney.”

“Well you gotta admit, she did reach the goal of that mission over the Post-Christmas season.” Phoenix replied.

Lana had to agree with Phoenix's reference, “Who knew the conspiracy behind Gregory Edgeworth's murder reached all the way to Manfred Von Karma?”

“Or the conspiracy behind the disappearance of Misty Fey.” Phoenix added which earned another nod of agreement from Lana.

There was another subject that Phoenix wanted to touch on, one that involved Lana's sister, but that idea was cut off when she began to speak.

“I wish to end this discussion, Mr. Wright,” Lana began to get up from her seat. “If you and Mia still wish to take my case, I'll leave the rest to you.”

“You may have confessed to this case, but it's definitely clear to me that there's a bigger conspiracy than what you're telling me...Therefore whatever verdict you gave to the arraignment judge, I'm going to have it reversed to nolo contendre.”

“Do whatever you wish, Mr. Wright, until next time.”

Without saying another word, Lana made her exit from the visitor's center and Phoenix made his exit to the parking garage where Mia and Ema would be waiting.

 


End file.
